Bowstring Winter
It was the code of friendship. Like a bowstring: tight. Like an arrow: straight.' When John Dkhar arrives at Kaizang Restaurant, Shillong, one cold November evening, he has no premonition that his life is about to change forever. A loner by nature, and the very epitome of culture and refinement, John comes across people he will soon be involved with in a deadly game of passion and hatred, trust and treachery: James Kharlukhi, tough and uncompromising, a leader born with a lust for danger; Jennifer D'Santos, companion to James, whose love for John can only lead to tragedy; Charlie, aloof, enigmatic, hounded by an ugly face which will lead him to murder; and Dor Kharkongor, ace archer, the spirit of the hills, caught between single-minded loyalty to James and paternal affection for John. Set against the lush landscape of Shillong, Dhruva Hazarika's tale of revenge and violence brilliantly evokes the sights and smells of north-east India while narrating a dynamic tale which addresses the universal themes of friendship, loyalty and the inherent loneliness of man.
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Bougainvillea House
Thrilling to the psychological core...What a corker of a book!'— Outlook Clarice Aranxa has come to Bougainvillea House to die. But there will be no peace here, nor quiet surrender, as long-forgotten memories are brutally revived. And even as Clarice grows weaker by the day from the ravages of motor neuron disease, her violent past is mirrored in a series of unexplained deaths.
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"A gripping book. Makes for compulsive reading' —India Today.
"Powerful and disturbing' —Outlook
"The style, complex, sometimes lyrical, sometimes earthy . . . a book that holds the attention of the reader' —Statesman "Stunning.
. . .With haunting prose and gripping imagery. You are swept on to a heart-numbing climax'''—Deccan Herald.
"Intricately constructed . . . Bougainvillea House, with its many tumultuous twists and turns, is a gripping book . . . Makes for compulsive reading'''—India Today.
"Swaminathan, a surgeon by profession, writes with clinical precision, and holds the reader'''s interest through the mayhem . . . This is a hair-raising tale'''— Time Out Mumbai.
"Kalpana Swaminathan'''s new novel is a compelling read indeed. It starts gently enough, dropping a hint or two about its intentions as it meanders through serene Baga in Goa. But about midway through the book, the tone changes. What seems like a quiet tale about a dying woman'''s bizarre past transmogrifies into a psychologically subtle story about madness and control . . . You'''re left at once chilled, surprised and delighted'''—DNA.
"A captivating psychological thriller that takes you on a journey through the heart of darkness . . . Swaminathan creates a heroine who is deeply loathsome but strangely compelling. And she creates an atmosphere that is sinister . . . [Her] prose is electric'''—Sahara Time
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Blasphemy
Set in South Pakistan, this controversial novel is a searing study of evil. It is the tragic and shocking story of the beautiful Heer, brutalized and corrupted by Pir Sain, the so-called man of God whom she is married to at the age of fifteen.
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'''The enduring impression of the book is its sustained capacity to shock the reader...You turn the pages, compelled to read on.''' —Biblio
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Babyji
A sexy, subversive novel about a schoolgirl and her quest to conquer love and life.
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.‘An intelligent, thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable read’ —India Currents.
‘What you’ll love: Fervid scenes of sexual discovery and the fevered vagaries of Anamika’s adolescent mind shimmer in unabashed detail’ —The Washington Post
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Salaam, Paris
-I believe it is time to settle your mind on the only role you have in this world: a pretty and quiet wife and a devoted mother. Remember that, and you will always be happy.' Tanaya Shah longs for the wonderful world of Paris, the world that she fell in love with while watching Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina"so when a proposal comes along for an arranged marriage with a man who is living in Paris, Tanaya seizes the chance. But once she lands in the city, she shuns the match. A stroke of luck turns Tanaya into a supermodel, and soon the traditional girl is cavorting with rock stars and is disowned by her family. In her new whirlwind life, she is reintroduced to the man she was supposed to marry, the man she now realizes she should have never walked away from, the man who is her only connection to the family she longs to reconcile with, if only it's not too late.
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Reaching Bombay Central
Ayesha Jamal is on a train to Bombay, on a mission to resolve an unpleasant complication in her husband's professional life that threatens to destroy everything. Uncertain, on edge, she responds to the passing world around her, to the realities of present-day India and her domestic life with a mixture of helpless anger and desperate hope: How long will this go on, this life where nothing is real? Can she tell her fellow-passengers the truth and be done with it? Will anything ever look beautiful again? Then, just hours before Bombay Central station, news of a wholly unexpected event, as simple and apposite as a miracle, delivers Ayesha of all her burdens . . .
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.....In the microcosm of a train compartment, an entire universe glitters, drawn in visual and verbal lines taut as a spider'''s web . . . there is humour and pathos and a definite slice of life [in] this fast-moving novel. Read it!'''.......Femina.
.....That [the] milieu, not necessarily our own, holds our attention so completely . . . is a tribute to the power of the author'''s prose whose condensed precision packs candour and irony in equal measure . . . The writer'''s consummate artistry is equally apparent in the way she probes the complexities of the human psyche'''.......The Statesman.
.....Futehally impels us along . . . with the elegance of her writing. That, and the insights she provides on what it feels like nowadays to have a name like Ayesha Jamal . . . [the] vague fear, the spiralling, hopeless descent into the small, dark, lonely well of fury and hatred are minutely etched'''.......Outlook
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American Brat
Bapsi Sidhwa's brilliant fourth novel chronicles the adventures of a young Pakistani girl in America with an enormously satisfying story and characters... The extended family of Feroza Ginwalla, a lively and temperamental girl, agonizes over the decision to send her to America for a three-month holiday. This act of apparent audacity arises from concern over Feroza's conservative attitudes, which stem from Pakistan's rising tide of fundamentalism. Feroza's chaperone in America, an uncle only six years her senior, is her guide, friend, and the bane of her existence. Her relationship and adventures shape her alternatively hilarious and terrifying perceptions of the US. Feroza's family in Pakistan, meanwhile, is in delicious turmoil over the possibility that American ways will ruin her...
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A Silence of Desire
He was not himself because his wife was not herself, because in marriage you acted and reacted one upon the other, however much you wished it otherwise, and whether you wanted to or no.' Dandekar is a routine-bound government clerk who is able to provide his family with a comfortable life. But his ordered existence is thrown off course when, one day, he comes home from work to find his wife, Sarojini, missing. On her return she gives him an excuse for her disappearance which he realizes is a lie, further rousing his suspicions. Doubt and mistrust plague him and he puts his career in jeopardy when he begins to trail Sarojini in the hope that he might find her with another man. But when he stumbles across the truth he gets more than he bargained for. In A Silence of Desire Kamala Markandaya explores the tension between the East and the West—between superstition and science, faith and reason, tradition and progress—in a profound manner.
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Patiala Quartet
-It was not an easy world to live in, particularly if you belonged.' Patiala in the early 1980s. A town caught in a time warp, yoked to its princely past even as it grapples with the looming spectre of terrorism which plays havoc with Punjab through that decade. As terror and suspicion lurk everywhere, the protagonists"siblings Monty and Minnie, and Michael and Karuna"play out their respective destinies, evolving their own strategies to cope with the tumult of the times. While Michael briefly seeks nirvana in his motorbike before deciding he has had enough and Monty withdraws into silence, it is the women"demure Karuna, shocking her family with its first scandal, and wilful Minnie, determined not to be a -nice girl'"who display the resilience to overcome the inertia spawned by fear and generations of conditioning. In this fascinating first novel, Neel Kamal Puri crafts a heartbreaking tale of people for whom life is often a dead end. Brimming with an array of memorable cameos, The Patiala Quartet is a loving and often hilarious look at growing-up: the pain, the heartaches, the choices we make, and how they make for the difference between survival and death, between holding on and letting go.
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A Flight of Pigeons
Set in Shahjahanpur during the revolt of 1857, A Flight of Pigeons is Ruskin Bond's classic novella about the twists of fate, history and the human heart. When Ruth Labadoor's father, a clerk in the British magistrate's office, is killed in an attack by sepoys, her family seek refuge with their trusted companion, Lala Ramjimal. From here they eventually hope to escape to their relatives in Bareilly. But their plans go awry when Javed Khan, a fiery Pathan opposed to the British, abducts Ruth and her mother and takes them to his haveli. To their surprise, it is not hate that impels him in this time of war, but an almost crippling passion for Ruth. It will be months before the fall of Delhi to British troops brings them freedom—from fear, bafflement and despair, not only their own but also Javed Khan's. Based on true events, A Flight of Pigeons is a haunting story, rich in detail and drama, told with simplicity and deep humanity. Filmed as Junoon
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