Every game played with your child has the potential to become a lifelong memory.The Rookie is a flash fiction piece (just over 500 words) based on a childhood memory.

    True, she can’t order anything through the mail for fear her dachshunds, Laverne and Shirley, will intercept and eat the contents, and she’s still carrying a few extra pounds from the birth of her kindergartener, but the rest of her life – marriage, kids, house, even her tennis game – is picture perfect.At least it is until the day her mother hands her a diet and exercise book called Look Great Naked and says, “I think your husband’s having an affair.” As the façade begins to crumble, Grace realizes that looking great naked means having nothing to hide. It’s accepting yourself exactly the way you are -- right here, right now, flaws, wrinkles, knots, bumps, lumps, bad attitude and all.

    While coping with a mother who is basically having a midlife crisis of sorts, Kayla has been forced into a world where she must play mother to her younger brother and sister, Latrell and Linell. One day, after she drops the 9 year old twins off at school, Kayla’s entire world will change. She is over at her boyfriend, Marcus’, place when it is shot up and he is wounded. Marcus winding up in the hospital will only be the beginning of a long sequence of events that show Kayla that not only is Marcus’ life in danger from a deal gone wrong, but so is her own… Disclaimer: This book contains sexually explicit content and language which is only suitable for people over the age of 18.

    Have these knots in my stomach. But drinking isn’t an option. Maa is sleeping with me. Baba in Lalitaji’s room. And she on the sofa. Want to step into the toilet, take one swig, and then go directly to sleep. How the hell will Maa know? I mean she’s sleeping like a log. No, no, shouldn’t. What if she wakes up? She’s a light sleeper, after all.11.30 pm: No wine. Or vodka. Terrible, terrible night. When will they go back to Kolkata and let me be?11.32 pm: Chhi . . .Chhi . . . How selfish am I? My parents, one with a heart condition, spent thousands on flight tickets and landed in Chennai. Why? Because they wanted to spend time with their widowed daughter. And what does the daughter want? To sneak into the toilet and take one good swig of wine. Shame on her! Okay, now I’m being over-dramatic.Meet Madhubala Ray a thirty-year-old brand-spanking-new widow in Chennai.She lives with her seventy-year-old mostly-silent MIL—whose name she can’t remember, teaches Social Science to bratty teenagers, and suddenly has a life filled with unpredictable men, catty colleagues, a bisexual best friend, and . . . heart-wrenching memories of her late husband.How does she deal with all of that?By baring it all, in her diary. Join this oddball-widow who always keeps it real as she gives an honest account of a young North Indian working woman in Chennai, who tries to survive a tragedy through wine and vodka, her quirky sense of humour, and refuses to give up on love. Despite its oddities. The question is: does she survive and find love, again?Secret Diary of an Incurable Romantic is a story that is brutally honest, funny, romantic and liberating. It’s a slice of life, you wouldn’t want to miss.

    However, behind closed doors, cracks are beginning to appear in her seemingly comfortable relationship with her professionally consumed husband, Rakesh. Although Rakesh seems content with his alpha neatness-fetish-melodramatic wife and bright son; Natasha yearns for romance, passion and excitement. Ironically, the Psychologist husband fails to read between the lines and Natasha is left to her own devices to deal with her unresolved emotions. An unexpected call from India takes her through a journey of self-discovery with her devastatingly handsome work colleague, Steve. She uncovers in some aspects urban India has changed considerably but equally, deep-rooted social issues still prevail in the so called modern, educated, changing society. A chance encounter with her 'blast from the past' - Veer, adds to the emotional rollercoaster ride. Her one-man-woman status of many years has failed to equip her with vital tools to deal with the unanticipated surge of attention from Steve and Veer. As she attempts to master the finer points of courtship, flirtation and seduction; her life spirals out of control. Natasha is compelled to make tough decisions about her love, friendship, marriage and parenthood.

    It's on India's southwestern coast, bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west and the Kaliamma River to the south and east. It's blessed with rich soil and scenic beauty, and it's been around for centuries. Of its 193,432 residents, only 89 declare themselves to be without religion or caste. And if the characters in Between the Assassinations are any indication, Kittur is an extraordinary crossroads of the brightest minds and the poorest morals, the up-and-coming and the downtrodden, and the poets and the prophets of an India that modern literature has rarely addressed. A twelve-year-old boy named Ziauddin, a gofer at a tea shop near the railway station, is enticed into wrongdoing because a fair-skinned stranger treats him with dignity and warmth. George D'Souza, a mosquito-repellent sprayer, elevates himself to gardener and then chauffeur to the lovely, young Mrs. Gomes, and then loses it all when he attempts to be something more. A little girl's first act of love for her father is to beg on the street for money to support his drug habit. A factory owner is forced to choose between buying into underworld economics and blinding his staff or closing up shop. A privileged schoolboy, using his own ties to the Kittur underworld, sets off an explosive in a Jesuit-school classroom in protest against casteism. A childless couple takes refuge in a rapidly diminishing forest on the outskirts of town, feeding a group of "intimates" who visit only to mock them. And the loneliest member of the Marxist-Maoist Party of India falls in love with the one young woman, in the poorest part of town, whom he cannot afford to wed. Between the Assassinations showcases the most beloved aspects of Adiga's writing to brilliant effect: the class struggle rendered personal; the fury of the underdog and the fire of the iconoclast; and the prodigiously ambitious narrative talent that has earned Adiga acclaim around the world and comparisons to Gogol, Ellison, Kipling, and Palahniuk. In the words of The Guardian (London), "Between the Assassinations shows that Adiga...is one of the most important voices to emerge from India in recent years." A blinding, brilliant, and brave mosaic of Indian life as it is lived in a place called Kittur, Between the Assassinations, with all the humor, sympathy, and unflinching candor of The White Tiger, enlarges our understanding of the world we live in today.

    Naina was at such a crossroad! An orphan, she did not have much to look forward to in life, until she fell in love. Love gave her wings and she started to fly, only to come crashing down as the wind beneath her wings turned into a storm. She tries putting an end to her now wretched existence, but fate has some other plans for her. She comes to know that she has limited time to live and decides to start living everyday instead of merely surviving. She lives every moment without worrying about the future she does not have or the past that could not be undone. She falls in love once again, this time with life! Will fate respect her fortitude?

    The dream of being together is tested high by the hard hitting facts of life. A love story that involves the emotions of their family and friends results in a rollercoaster ride that comes to an end when a lucid dreamer arrives. Do dreams really get fulfilled?

    "Devdas: " The young boy Devdas has an ardent follower, a little girl Parvati, who is his neighbor's daughter. They grow up together in a class conscious, tradition bound, rural community. Their friendship turns into love as they mature. Will they be able to have their wish fulfilled and unite with each other for the rest of their lives? Which way their fate will take them?"Good Riddance (Niskriti): " Girish is a successful man and both he and his wife are magnanimous. They allow Girish's incompetent and poor cousin and his family to live with them as a joint family. An atmosphere of great love and understanding prevails over the joint family. But, what happens when Girish's younger brother Harish, who is also a successful man and has a wife with western education, joins the family? What events take place and what are the roles played by different family members?"Pundit (Pundit-moshai): " Brindabon was married at a young age, but was soon made by his father to desert his child bride, because of a rumor of scandal about her mother. He grows up to become a self educated and benevolent well to do man, and she grows up to be a beautiful and educated woman in a poor family. After his second wife dies leaving behind a young son, he offers to take her back. But, how she responds? Brindabon gives free education to children of the poor in the village, by teaching them himself, and is called by them as Pundit. But, does that earn him respect from the diehard snobs in the village ortheir compassion in his moment of crisis?"Chandranath: " A rich man marries a poor young woman, not knowing that her mother had a scandal of living together with a man after she became a widow. The girl, because of her humble background and the scandalous secret about her mother, considers herself much inferior to her husband and treats him with servility. How are the husband's feelings towards her? How the marriage blossoms? A kindly old man comes in their life, and what role he plays?"Debt and Payment (Dena-Paona): " Jibananda, a corrupt scion of a landlord family, marries the child daughter of a widow for dowry money and then disappears. He later inherits a large estate when his uncle dies and becomes an oppressive feudal landlord. The girl by turn of events becomes the custodian of a temple in a village, where the landlord owns some property. She is upright, educated, and a leader of the downtrodden. The landlord visits the village, but does not recognize her. The virtuous woman and the depraved man cross their path, and what does it bring to them?

    In Rashid's opium room the air is thick and potent. A beautiful young woman leans to hold a long-stemmed pipe over a flame, her hair falling across her dark eyes. Around her, men sprawl and mutter in the gloom, each one drifting with his own tide. Here, people say that you introduce only your worst enemy to opium.Outside, stray dogs lope in packs. Street vendors hustle. Hookers call for custom through the bars of their cages as their pimps slouch in doorways in the half-light. There is an underworld whisper of a new terror: the Pathar Maar, the stone killer, whose victims are the nameless, invisible poor. There are too many of them to count in this broken city.Narcopolis is a rich, chaotic, hallucinatory dream of a novel that captures the Bombay of the 1970s in all its compelling squalor. With a cast of pimps, pushers, poets, gangsters and eunuchs, it is a journey into a sprawling underworld written in electric and utterly original prose.

    Five characters, in very different circumstances—from a domestic cook in Mumbai, to a vagrant and his dancing bear, to a girl who escapes terror in her home village for a new life in the city—find out the meanings of dislocation and the desire for more.Set in contemporary India and moving between the reality of this world and the shadow of another, this novel of multiple narratives—formally daring, fierce, but full of pity—delivers a devastating and haunting exploration of the unquenchable human urge to strive for a different life.

    and reprint of some of Tagore's most famous stories

    Come along for the ride to meet feisty Boston city girls who know what they want, and rugged Montana men who just need to be loved. It's 1900, and things are changing fast in sleepy Sun River. As the town begins to expand, its inhabitants are getting restless, looking for love and adventure. A Bride for Carlton Why would an accomplished governess respond to an advertisement in the Matrimonial Times? Myra Gilbert had never considered such a thing, but something has awoken within her and she is determined to take her chance on love. Carlton Green claimed his lands, and now has the deeds in his grasp. But something is missing in his life. Will his quest to find love fill that hole, or is there something from his past that could change everything and leave him with nothing? A Bride for Mackenzie Annie Cahill has had a tough life, forced to leave home and work from an early age to support her sick Mama and younger siblings. Always the one everybody else could rely on she decides to finally reach out to take something for herself. But will she find the courage to see it through? A Bride for Ethan Maggie Smith left her home and family behind her to forge a successful career. But she is beginning to wonder if it truly was worth all the sacrifices she has made. But her desire for a family and loving partner may be a challenge to far. Has she already had everything she dreamed of, and foolishly pushed it away? A Bride for Thomas Catherine Parker has been brought up in the lap of luxury, and has always expected she would someday make an expedient marriage, but when her Papa insists she marry a man she knows he despises she has no choice. But will she find the love and companionship she craves, or is she merely trading one kind of hell for another? Can she trust a stranger to care more for her than her own father? A Bride for Matthew Emily Wilkins has led a glamorous life, part of a famous Circus family she has her own Act and a loving family. But a dramatic accident in the Ring means she has to face up to the fact that she never felt she fitted in. With her faithful donkey Claude she sets out for Montana to heal and find herself, but she gets much more than she ever bargained for. A Bride for Daniel Alice Springham has worked as a maid in a top Boston hotel since she was a girl. But she is feeling restless. Not knowing what she wants she answers and advertisement in the Matrimonials that made her smile. She has no idea if it is love she is missing, or if she even wants to wed. Will she ever learn what it is she truly wants? A Bride for William Madelaine Crane has led a life of privilege, but her comfortable life has been ripped apart by scandal. Can she overcome the gossip and forge her way to a life of fulfilment and love despite their censure? A Bride for Aaron Frederica Milton has been struggling to find her place in the world since the tragic deaths of her parents. Her Aunt is making her life a misery, though she knows her kindly Uncle loves her - but it is time for her to take her destiny into her own hands. Our feisty heroine places an advertisement for a husband, but will she finally find what she truly longs for? A Bride for Gideon Alberta Freemont, the daughter of a prominent Boston politician knows all about the need to marry well and that love isn't always a consideration.

    But as the festive season draws closer, Laurel begins to wonder if Christmas on Skopelos can ever live up to the cosy Yorkshire Christmases she spent with her beloved grandmother, Marnie. And with a travel writer arriving to review the Villa, Laurel needs a touch of festive sparkle - and a little help from some old friends... With critics to impress, Greek feasts to cook, and an ABBA-themed winter wedding on the horizon, can Laurel throw the perfect Christmas for everyone? And will she find her own romance underneath the mistletoe...? Escape to Greece this Christmas for this joyous sequel to My Mamma Mia Summer.

    Her destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean shortly before the outbreak of the Opium Wars in China. In a time of colonial upheaval, fate has thrown together a diverse cast of Indians and Westerners on board, from a bankrupt raja to a widowed tribeswoman, from a mulatto American freedman to a free-spirited French orphan. As their old family ties are washed away, they, like their historical counterparts, come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais, or ship-brothers. The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, and the exotic backstreets of Canton.