Book picks similar to
The Bitter Half by Simon


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real-incidents

The Vizag Sabotage: A spy thriller inspired by true events


Saurav Anand - 2019
    He was an employee of Hindustan Shipyard limited which is building India’s nuclear submarine fleet. This is the fourth submarine engineer in the last twelve months who perished under mysterious circumstances. Navy leadership gets suspicious about a covert sabotage operation being carried out by an unknown enemy, to slow down India's attempt at acquiring a potent nuclear deterrent platform. After deliberations at different levels, an Intelligence Bureau agent is sent to Vizag to work as an undercover operative. What secrets will she uncover? Will she become the next target of an enemy spy ring? Would the Indian Navy exact revenge from a belligerent enemy?

Salman Rushdie: Midnight's Children-The Satanic Verses


David Smale - 2002
    As a novelist and icon, Rushdie has embraced both 'popular' and 'high' culture; reflecting this, the Guide brings together both academic criticism and journalism to investigate the passions and preoccupations of Rushdie's many critics, steering the reader through the inflamed debates and rhetoric surrounding this much admired but controversial author.

The Diary of My Love


Deesha Sangani - 2020
    Fresh out of college, she has just stepped into the corporate world, chasing her dreams. Life seems perfect.Ayush meets Anushkaa on her first day at work, and feels a spark of liking rush through him. Torn between his heart and mind, he is sure he is smitten by her magical charm. A chance conversation with Anushkaa evokes emotions he hasn’t felt in years. She seems to be perfect.But does a perfect life exist?When they meet again four years later, their hearts are broken and their will to love is lost. They heal each other’s hearts and help each other achieve their dreams. Finally, when they start living for themselves and each other, life plays a cruel card.Anushkaa’s diary is her only true companion, holding within the pages the secret that nobody else will ever know. Join Ayush and Anushkaa on this rollercoaster of emotions, and take a peek into the secret Anushkaa has buried in The Diary of My Love.

Yakshini


Neil D'Silva - 2017
    Down on Earth, a couple in Maharashtra is expecting their seventh child and is performing a special yajna to fulfil their desires. By a strange quirk of fate, these two distinctly different lives are soon to be intertwined. Fifteen-year-old Meenakshi is no ordinary girl. Blessed with celestial attributes, she has beauty that would rival a goddess’, a unique communion with nature and a supernatural being living inside her. Even so, Meenakshi lives amongst men and eventually, the evil eye falls upon her. That’s when the Yakshini inside her awakens. As the Yakshini takes control, Meenakshi is catapulted into a world of passion and violence that even threatens her husband life. Neil D’Silva’s Yakshini is a toe-curling, spine-tingling tale where mythology comes deliciously alive on the page. With its fantastic creatures and unforgettable characters, the book highlights the tussle between the supernatural and the human, sure to enchant all readers.

The Aayakudi Murders


Indra Soundar Rajan - 2019
    When he first arrives in Aayakudi to investigate a curious tip about a ghost, the place seems like an ordinary, traditional farming village. Soon, though, Rajendran finds himself entangled in a head-spinning mystery involving ancient treasure, spirit possession, and a series of grisly killings. There's also the beautiful, troubled daughter of the village panchayat president... and the notorious evil sorcerer who wants her dead. Indra Soundar Rajan, one of the stalwarts of the Tamil pulp fiction scene, has been writing his unique brand of supernatural mystery thrillers for over 30 years. He's also known for his television screenplays, such as the long-running superhit serial Marmadesam (Land of Mystery). He lives in Madurai.

Vikram Betal. The 24 Riddles and the Origin of the Betal: All stories of Vikram and Betal from the Tamil Original Vikramaadityan Kadaigal


Sooriyakumar Sivakumaran - 2017
    Based on the Tamil Original Vikramaadityan Kadaigal. All the 24 riddles/stories that the Betal narrated to King Vikramaadityan. Also included is the story of the origin of the Betal - Who is the Betal? How did he/she become a Betal? What is its redemption?

Scar Tissue


David Skivington - 2013
    Transported to a dingy basement in Kolkata to identify the body of her murdered husband she has no explanation for his presence in India. As she searches for answers about who the man she married really was she finds his death surrounded by allegations of drug smuggling, child trafficking and murder. Unsure of what is true and who she can trust, Rachel has no idea of the danger her husband's hidden life has put her in.

A Tiger At Twilight And Cyclones


Manoj Das - 1991
    . . [will] take a place on my shelves beside the stories of Narayan — Graham GreeneThis volume presents two celebrated novels by Manoj Das, one of India’s most illustrious authors, who has been writing in English and Oriya (Odia)for over six decades.In A Tiger at Twilight the erstwhile raja of Samargarh returns to his abandoned palace in Nijanpur, after years of self-exile, with his sick daughter and his supposed half-sister, and immediately assumes the responsibility of killing a man-eating tiger. Assisting him are a few noted men of the valley including Dev the owner and manager of a resort. But as the hunt intensifies Dev realizes that things aren’t as they seem: Heera, the raja’s sister, has an inexplicable power over the men in the hunting party and a strange connection with the tiger. As the men get closer to killing the beast, bizarre things begin to happen, hinting at the influence of the supernatural.Cyclones is set in Kusumpur, a small coastal village, during the struggle for Independence. The village is devastated by a cyclone and Sandip, the scion of the zamindar (land-lord) family, helps restore it. The war-time colonial government, though, wants to turn the sleepy hamlet into a busy port town. They plan to fill up the river that flows by it, in the process angering all the villagers, including Sandip. But when the contractor for the project is found murdered, Sandip is accused of the crime, forcing him to flee from the authorities. This is the start of a series of adventures that take him from a remote ashram in a forest to the city where communal violence is rife. Cyclones is a powerful novel about the metaphorical storms that gripped the nation during the most turbulent period of its modern history.

Chimera


Vivek Ahuja - 2012
    A violent uprising has been instigated all across Tibet as Beijing moves to establish control while the Dalai Lama’s health deteriorates further and questions on the future of the Tibetan leadership are raised. As Beijing pursues the rebels and their benefactors within India, both nations are plunged into a spiraling descent to war. Now each side must navigate their widely different paths to victory as vast armies on both sides wage all-out war in their bid to become the dominant power in Asia… Book Edition: II

Operation 'Fox-Hunt'


Siddhartha Thorat - 2014
    The Pakistani army, mauled by the Abbottabad raid, decides to create andexecute an operation that will get the Pakistani public opinion firmly behindthem. Major Shezad Khan, a much decorated officer from the Pakistani army’selite Special Service Group (SSG) embarks on a mission to attack a strategictarget in India. His comrades-in-arms are five ferocious Lashakar-e-Taiba militants.Though he crosses into India through Kashmir, there is one man who has beentasked with the job of ensuring that they don't reach their target. RAW’s SeniorField Agent Sanjay Khanna teams up with Military Intelligence and NSG tothwart the attack.The narrative sweeps across the vast expanses of Tajikistan, the malarial jungles ofBengal, through conflict zones in Baluchistan, and the Vale of Kashmir as the twomen and their teams race against time. A thrilling finale awaits in the maximum city – Mumbai.Will the ‘Fox-Hunt’ succeed?

Kathputli


Ushasi Sen Basu - 2016
    Two lives. Three generations. Four places. Chitrangda Chatterjee, 32, has been moving from one dead-end offshore job to another. Kathputli’s story begins after Chitrangda has quit her latest job and sets out in search of the perfect story for her Great Indian Novel. This takes her to a family reunion of her grandmother’s clan, where a story of the long-lost daughter of a once-powerful Zamindar family begins to take shape.  Unravelling the mystery of Mala’s disappearance a few years after the brutal murder of the boy she loved becomes an obsession for Chitrangda. One which draws Chitrangda out of her shell; and introduces her to the unaccustomed joys of getting to know new people and places.  What emerges, however, undermines the very foundation of Chitrangda’s understanding of her own family.  The novel goes back and forth between Chitrangda’s present-day search for all the missing pieces of Mala’s story and the story itself, set in 1940s Kolkata.

Hold That Breath


Abhirup Dhar - 2019
    Bored homemaker, Saachi curious about the supernatural plays the elevator game to reach the other world. Wandering photographer, Barry Bandeira puts up at a fort hotel one night and unearths an ancient curse. Abhay Kumar, a horror fiction writer, looking forward to a wedding anniversary celebration with his lovely wife, confronts his nemesis. Jeevika tells a true ghost story while on a road trip in Delhi-Jaipur expressway with her rich spoilt boyfriend, Ojas. Raman Chabra, a film producer meets a talented struggler, Dhruv in a dilapidated cinema hall to hear his horror script. One of these stories connects the others. Fear will be unleashed from the master storyteller of 'Stories Are Magical' and 'Once Again… With Love!' Have a fun, simple, relaxing and a little spooky read! Enjoy.

On the Open Road: Three Lives. Five Cities. One Startup.


Stuti Changle - 2017
    Kabir wonders what life would be to build on his own. Sandy drops out of college to work on the next big startup idea. Ramy inspires millions of his generation on his travel blog - On the Open Road. On the Open Road - Three Lives. Five Cities. One Startup, revolves around the lives of these restless and dreamy 20-somethings as they battle their inner demons and the societal taboos to live life on their terms. It is an emotional journey of following one’s heart. The journey entails undying friendship, love and loss, happiness and depression, fear and conquest, dreaming and achieving. Will they be able to embark on the hard yet empowering journey to startup a company? Or succumb to the hardships on their road to freedom?

The Reason is You


Nikita Singh - 2019
    

Red Card


Kautuk Srivastava - 2018
    One year. Everything to lose.When Rishabh Bala reaches the tenth standard, life takes a turn for the complicated. The bewildered boy feels the pressure of the looming board exams and finds himself hopelessly-and hormonally-in love. But what he yearns for most is victory on the field: at least one trophy with his beloved school football team.Set in the suburban Thane of 2006, here is a coming-of-age story that runs unique as it does familiar. Hopscotching from distracted classrooms and tired tutorials to triumphs and tragedies on muddy grounds, this is the journey of Rishabh and his friends from peak puberty to the cusp of manhood.