Men of peace are spreading the message of the Buddha even as monks are being tortured in the dungeons of Pataliputra. In Magadha, all talk is about the impending war against Kalinga. While King Ashoka plots the movements of his ships and cavalry, Queen Asandhimitra broods over the growing unrest in the kingdom. There is only one man they can both trust to take them through this period of uncertainty and looming danger: the enigmatically named Brahmin, skilful spymaster and custodian of Magadha’s best-kept secrets. Lush with historical detail and unforgettable characters, The Brahmin is an intricately plotted novel that seeks to recreate a near-mythical period in India’s past.

    But the rain can’t stop me. No one can…I’ll go out and play tonight. I will kill only four. No more, no less. Just four.' In the midst of one of the worst monsoons in Mumbai, a man is found brutally murdered, his body posed like a kite on the tallest cell tower in the city. As one corpse after another turns up in the unlikeliest of places, each gruesomely killed and carefully arranged in a grotesque manner, the Mumbai Police realize they have more on their hands than they can deal with. Enter Chandrakant Rathod, a maverick investigator the police turn to in times of need, who plays by his own rules and lives for the thrill of the chase. Pitting his sharp instincts against the machinations of the sadistic, ruthless killer, the detective succeeds in nabbing the psychopath and putting him behind bars. Then, three months later, the killings begin again. A deadly game is afoot – a game that will challenge Rathod to the utmost, for it is a game that he cannot hope to win...

    Whether in New Delhi or Manhattan, the characters face the universal quandaries of human experience.

    The book features curated old favourites and brand new tales as well as exclusive entries by Penguin's bestselling authors.The page-turner of the year, the volume is sure to occupy a unique space on your shelf, making for great introspection and even better conversation.

    First, there is the child Mallika, brimming with romantic fantasies and bemoaning the lack of passion in the lives of her mother, Padma, and her mother's contemporaries - women whom she nevertheless loves fiercely. Mallika renders her fantasies through a highly wrought imagination, re-creating for the reader the events that came to devastate her childhood. Then, we revisit the events Mallika has described as they are retold from the points of view of Padma and Padma's sister, mother and friends. The story that slowly emerges is not the same as the one Mallika told. For the world of these women is one where secrets grow like fungus, where guilt roots and ripens, where anger burns and smolders. Every one of them carries the burden of secrets that may or may not be known by the others - some secrets obvious, others subtler and more insidious - and that have for them become a way of life. And so they tell their stories, stories by no means as prosaic as the child Mallika believes. Layer after layer of concealing silence is relentlessly peeled off, till, at last, the truth behind the greatest secret of all is laid bare - the story of Padma's love.

    Just when things get going, as always, life’s plans go against theirs. This story, in its simplicity, shows us the importance of family, trust, dedication and friendship.'Loving someone is not tough; real courage is to be with that person forever.’Bestselling author Anuj Tiwari is a self-confessed mamma’s boy, who draws inspirations for his novel from the love story of his parents, who encourage him to love, live and write... – The Asian Age Myriad shades of romance. – Deccan ChronicleAn unforgettable love story. – Afternoon

    In what modern Indians mistakenly call the Indus Valley Civilisation. The inhabitants of that period called it the land of Meluha a near perfect empire created many centuries earlier by Lord Ram, one of the greatest monarchs that ever lived. This once proud empire and its Suryavanshi rulers face severe perils as its primary river, the revered Saraswati, is slowly drying to extinction. They also face devastating terrorist attacks from the east, the land of the Chandravanshis. To make matters worse, the Chandravanshis appear to have allied with the Nagas, an ostracised and sinister race of deformed humans with astonishing martial skills!The only hope for the Suryavanshis is an ancient legend: When evil reaches epic proportions, when all seems lost, when it appears that your enemies have triumphed, a hero will emerge.Is the rough-hewn Tibetan immigrant Shiva, really that hero? And does he want to be that hero at all? Drawn suddenly to his destiny, by duty as well as by love, will Shiva lead the Suryavanshi vengeance and destroy evil?

    By day, he is a normal, bubbly teenager whose prime concerns are cricket, family and friends. The night holds the secrets of the life of a child who sneaks away to confabulate with Akram and his fledgling group of tearaway terrorists. Akram—so handsome, so exciting. But what Aftab doesn’t realise—so dangerous. Aftab is in complete awe of Akram and is willing to follow him to the end of the earth. And Akram is more than willing to send him there...

    And, with all due respect, sir, who the hell are you?'When a body mysteriously appears at the bottom of the otherwise serene hills of Sonargam in peak tourist season, Superintendent of Police, Shimla, Niki Marwah, and her crack team of investigators must act quickly to find out how Rak Mehta, the hotshot President & CEO of a super-successful publishing company, landed there.As they scour the grounds of the luxurious Lotus Resort, where Indigo's employees have checked in for their annual conference, the police team uncovers bitter rivalries, secret grudges and vicious lies – not to mention the victim's own sordid past that has made him more enemies than friends.Lipstick stains, condoms, a notebook full of rambling code; bribery, mind games, broken promises - everything points to murder. And, with the list of suspects growing, it will take all of Niki’s ingenuity and skill to catch the killer before Sonargam's idyllic landscape is disrupted once again...

    The name indicates that this is a set of stories having it's own fragrance.

    But sometimes, there is a price to be paid ...– A SOFTWARE ENGINEER goes missing in the Baltic.– AN UNSCRUPULOUS STOCKBROKER is audaciously murdered in a crowded bar room.– A HOTSHOT CEO is accused of insider trading.When Shashi Kurva, one of the country's most successful CEOs, is named in an insider trading scandal, he is stunned. Utterly blindsided, he makes desperate attempts to prove his innocence and identify the real culprit, only to stumble upon a conspiracy that hits far too close to home.Racing between the boardroom, a stockbroking firm and a shattered family, Insider is a tale of duplicity and avarice, manipulation and murder, that takes you into the murky depths of the Indian stock market and data analytics, where profit is the only object, and money the only language.While comparisons to veteran thriller writer John Grisham are inevitable, Raman's writing is more inspired by the older canon of crime writing - The New Indian Express RV Raman picks a crime fiction to make a debut and weaves a tight plot and a clear narrative to keep you engrossed.- The Hindustan Times If art imitates life, then we all need to be very worried ... an insider's account of the less than salubrious side of the corporate world. - Deccan Chronicle

    The Kaurava brothers tricked their Pandava cousins out of a kingdom, and even Lord Krishna could not stop the horror and bloodshed that followed. Veda Vyasa composed an epic poem, the longest in the world, to describe the events that unfolded. In this epic tale of superhuman heroes and gory action, Veda Vyasa explores human ambitions, relationships and conflicts to find the true purpose of life

    Set in politically charged Shillong, this interconnected collection of stories speaks of the coming-of-age of a young woman–and the city and community she calls home.

    "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?

    The play is a political satire, written as historical drama. Based on the life of Nana Phadnavis (1741–1800), one of the prominent ministers in the court of the Peshwa of Pune. Its theme is how men in power give rise to ideologies to serve their purposes, and later destroy them when they become useless.