Book picks similar to
MISPLACED HEADS by Jayanthi Sankar


eventually
highly-recommended
indian-books

Janaka and Ashtavakra: A Journey Beyond


Ashraf Karayath - 2020
    A young boy Ashtavakra goes to king janaka’s Court to debate the kingdom most learned sages but is ridiculed by the courtiers for his deformed body. After the boy triumphs in the debate, Janaka realizes that the boy has an extraordinary intellect and becomes his disciple. While Janaka is obsessed with his quest for spiritual liberation, a treacherous plan unfolds inside the secretive world of the royal palace. Very soon war clouds gather on the horizon of Mithila, but all Janaka does is devote more and more time to the young sage. Even though the whole world believes a calamity is imminent, Janaka stays on the path to spiritual enlightenment. Ultimately, with Ashtavakra’s guidance, the king enters the realm of a new world which alters the reality for him and his kingdom. This novel is rooted in ancient Indian spiritual wisdom and philosophy, but with new interpretations of the concepts of liberation, enlightenment, consciousness and the realities of life. Among others, It seeks to answer the question: is everything we see indeed an illusion? This compelling story sheds light on the modern readers’ existential questions, leading them to relate to the king and his struggles.

Born in a Treacherous time


Jacqui Murray - 2018
    It is a time in history when they are relentlessly annihilated by predators, nature, their own people, and the next iteration of man. To make it worse, Lucy’s band hates her. She is their leader’s new mate and they don’t understand her odd actions, don’t like her strange looks, and don’t trust her past. To survive, she cobbles together an unusual alliance with an orphaned child, a beleaguered protodog who’s lost his pack, and a man who was supposed to be dead.Born in a Treacherous Time is prehistoric fiction written in the spirit of Jean Auel. Lucy is tenacious and inventive no matter the danger, unrelenting in her stubbornness to provide a future for her child, with a foresight you wouldn’t think existed in earliest man. You’ll close this book understanding why man not only survived our wild beginnings but thrived, ultimately to become who we are today.This is a spin-off of To Hunt a Sub’s Lucy (the ancient female who mentored the female protagonist)

Family Matters 4-Book Bundle: Angel Falls, Between Sisters, The Things We Do for Love, Magic Hour


Kristin Hannah - 2013
    . . . [Angel Falls will] make you laugh and cry.”—New York Post   When Mikaela Campbell, beloved wife and mother, falls into a coma, it is up to her husband, Liam, to hold the family together and care for their grieving, frightened children. Every day he sits at Mikaela’s bedside, hoping against hope that she will wake up. But then he discovers his wife’s secret past: a hidden first marriage to movie star Julian True. Desperate to bring Mikaela back at any cost, Liam must turn to Julian for help. But will that choice cost Liam his wife, his family, and everything he holds dear? BETWEEN SISTERS “Enormously entertaining . . . Hannah has a nice ear for dialogue and a knack for getting the reader inside characters’ heads.”—The Seattle Times   Twenty-seven years ago Meghann Dontess was forced to make a terrible choice, one that cost her the love of her sister, Claire. Now, Meghann is a hotshot divorce attorney who doesn’t believe in much of anything. She is surprised when her sister calls out of the blue to say she is engaged. Meghann knows this is her chance to reconnect with her sister. She offers to plan the ceremony, but Claire knows that pleasing her judgmental sister is almost impossible. Nothing seems to work between them . . . until tragedy strikes. At last, these two sisters with nothing in common will have to become what they never were: a family.  THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE “Hannah captures the joy and heartache of family as she draws the reader into the lives of her characters and makes them feel like personal friends.”—Booklist   Years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child have broken more than Angie DeSaria’s heart. Following a painful divorce, she moves back to her hometown, where life rises and falls like the tides, to manage her family’s restaurant. Her fortune changes yet again when she hires Lauren Ribido. Angie sees something special in the troubled seventeen-year-old—and when Lauren’s mother abandons her, Angie offers the girl a place to stay. But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness.  MAGIC HOUR “A wonderful novel—wild, radiant, and vivid.”—Luanne Rice   From deep within the Olympic National Forest—nearly a million acres of impenetrable darkness—a six-year-old girl appears, wild-looking and alone. Child psychiatrist Dr. Julia Cates is determined to free the extraordinary girl she calls Alice from a prison of unimaginable isolation. The child can’t speak and seems to have never been around people. As Julia seeks to help Alice, she discovers who the child is. The shocking facts about Alice’s past test the limits of Julia’s faith and strength, even as she struggles to make a home for Alice—and for herself.

A Justifiable Madness


A.B. Morgan - 2017
    But who is he and why is he so keen to spend time in a psychiatric hospital?When Mark is admitted, silent and naked, the staff are suspicious about his motives.Dealing with this, as well as the patients on the ward, Mark’s troubles really begin once he is Sectioned under the Mental Health Act. When decisions about his future are handed to Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Giles Sharman, Mark’s life goes from bad to worse.  Drugged, abused and in danger, Mark looks for a way out of this nightmare. But he’s about to learn, proving that you are sane might not be easy as it sounds…

Khon'Tor's Wrath


Leigh Roberts - 2019
     What if... The community repopulated, and lived in peace and harmony with all creation for generation after generation — until the compassionate act of their Healer set it all on end.Coming across an abandoned infant, the Healer Adia rescues a forbidden Outsider child and brings it back to their underground community, Kthama. When the Leader returns from a council meeting and finds what she has done, he takes her compassionate act as an affront to his authority and a threat to the People's welfare.She was prepared for him to be angry.  She was prepared for him to punish her. But she was not prepared for Khon'Tor's Wrath.

A Love So Special


Deepak Srivastava - 2020
    Neha has put at stake her own self to support her family. When they meet, it’s like they are the missing pieces of each other’s life-puzzles.With time, their children Riya and Raghu complete their happiness. Raghu is a specially-abled child and thinks his father is a superhero. But one fateful day, Raghu goes missing.The quest for Raghu takes Nikhil on an unexpected journey through the sea of his emotions, and into his past. When he finally locates Raghu, he has to choose between life and death to be united to his son.Will he prove himself to be a superhero for his son? Or will history repeat itself to rob him of his loved ones?This thrilling tale of determination and love shows the depths to which a parent will go for A Love So Special.

Skyfall


Saba Karim Khan - 2020
    Despite the worst of humanity every day – her madrassa running father selling her mother's body and beating her sister – Rania remains the 'Troublemaker', unable to give up on her dreams.When an Indian filmmaker encourages her to enrol in a music contest that can take her to New York, her dreams take flight. But even as she wins the hearts of her listeners, a family secret threatens to bring her life in Heera Mandi back in sharp relief, upending the new life she has built for herself.From the oppressive walls of religious hypocrisy to the orange jumpsuits of American prisons, Skyfall is a tender, piercing debut that teaches us the strength of human endeavour and our desire for love in a time of hate.

How to Catch a Cowboy


Tia Souders - 2020
    She's a broken-hearted city slicker seeking refuge. Can rancher Rhett Montgomery overcome his bitterness and loss for a second chance at love?When Danielle Roberts discovers her husband of three years is cheating on her, her life falls apart. On a whim, she retreats to the small town of Cedar Falls, freshly divorced, and hoping to lick her wounds at Montana Wilds Ranch Resort.Rhett Montgomery works himself to the bone, burying the sorrow of his past in his business and avoiding his sister's attempts at pushing him back into the dating pool. So when one of his ranch hands is injured and a long term visitor with clear blue eyes and long dark hair offers to take his place, he refuses her help. But his sister intervenes, and before he knows it, he's stuck with a female ranch hand.Why does he have a feeling this is just another one of her set-ups?Too bad he'll have to squash any hopes of a blooming romance between him and the newcomer.Yet somehow, the more he pushes Danny away, the more she softens his heart of stone.

The Prince of Patliputra


Shreyas Bhave - 2015
    Almost five decades ago, his father had laid the foundations of this vast Samrajya guided by the famed Guru Arya Chanakya. But now, the wealth and glory of the past has subsided...As the Samrat’s health continues to decline due to an unknown illness, problems are arising all over his realm. There is infighting and rebellion. No clear successor to him is present. Ninety nine of his sons stand in line waiting for his throne...Bharathvarsha needs a Chandragupta once again. And it needs a Chanakya too. Can the young Prince Asoka, who is the least favorite son of the Samrat, fill in the boots of his grandfather? Can Radhagupta, a mere Councilor of the Court be what Chanakya was to all the Aryas? Begin a new adventure with the first book of the Asoka trilogy as you read to find the answer to one great question-'That who shall be the next Samrat of this holy land of the Aryas?'

Picturing Christmas


Jason F. Wright - 2013
    With a degree and a dream, she's heading to New York City to start a new job and a new life. She can't wait to experience Rockefeller Center and to take a thousand pictures of her first Christmas in the city.But before she's even on the ground, she loses the job and learns her parents are divorcing.Can Aubrey find her way in an unforgiving city? Can she find love, or at the very least, a real friend? Most importantly, with her first holiday in New York fast approaching, can she create the kind of Christmas she always pictured?

One & A Half Love Story


Vishal Anand - 2020
    Nimisha travels all the way to Bangalore to celebrate her Valentine’s week with Viraj. They did have a great time together, but she stumbles upon Shriya to learn Viraj’s past. Who is Shriya? A colleague? A friend? Or, more than that? One & A Half Love Story is a compelling journey of three very different people - Nimisha, Viraj and Shriya.

Freakonomics: Rejuvenating the Self-Destructive Global Economy


Dan Nathaniel Brown - 2006
    

HOW I QUIT GOOGLE TO SELL SAMOSAS: Adventures With The Bohri Kitchen


Munaf Kapadia - 2021
    

Love in Unlikely Places


Linda Byler - 2020
    Follow as she struggles to reconcile her faith and her complicated feelings in this romance by bestselling Amish writer Linda Byler. Emma had had plenty of offers for marriage. Several young men had noticed her smooth auburn hair, her quick intellect. But at twenty-six years of age, she was still single, much to the bewilderment of her Amish community. "She's just too picky," they said, and she supposed they were right.  When she becomes a nanny for an English (non-Amish) family along the coast of North Carolina, her world opens up in exciting—and confusing—ways. Not only is she getting used to life outside the safety of her Amish culture in Lancaster, but she finds herself spending a great deal of her free time with Ben, the handsome older Amish man who is working as a contractor on the house where she's staying. He is charming, outgoing, strong, and the familiarity of their shared upbringing cements their friendship quickly. Sure, there are things that Emma doesn't approve of—like the fact that he drives a truck instead of a buggy—but life in North Carolina is so different from Pennsylvania. Maybe it's not such a big deal, she reasons. When Emma is forced to leave North Carolina, saying goodbye to Ben is the hardest part. A group of Amish youth invite her to go camping and she reluctantly agrees, only to discover her friends have schemed to set her up with a young Amish man, Randy. Annoyed and longing for Ben, she decides she must get back to the beach town where he still lives. When she does, her world is shattered in a way she couldn't have imagined, and she is left to grapple with her faith, her future, and her complicated feelings.

A Tiny House on Wheels


Enni Amanda - 2020
    She quits her advertising job, and moves into a small coastal town, in a tiny house on wheels. Surely, the laid back country life with organic veggies will turn back the clock for her. Now, she only has to find the right guy–and it can’t be her odd, new neighbour who doesn’t want kids. No matter how hot he is. This time, Nina is determined to follow the plan, not her heart.Jay is used to solitary life. After his father’s death, he tries to keep the farm running, even if he’s more comfortable with the veggies than people. But who needs social skills? In the backside of Raglan, nothing ever happens. Until a cute, Finnish blonde moves into the neighbouring lot, in a ridiculous tiny house. Can Jay work out his issues and take a chance on the most exotic thing that’s ever walked into his life?Work, life, love and all those other big questions that vex us are are tackled in this humorous and thought-provoking book, which will stay with you long after you reach the end.