Book picks similar to
The Heart Divided by Mumtaz Shah Nawaz
fiction
india
partition
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Maps for Lost Lovers
Nadeem Aslam - 2004
Jugnu and Chanda have disappeared. Like thousands of people all over England, they were lovers and living together out of wedlock. To Chanda’s family, however, the disgrace was unforgivable. Perhaps enough so as to warrant murder.As he explores the disappearance and its aftermath through the eyes of Jugnu’s worldly older brother, Shamas, and his devout wife, Kaukab, Nadeem Aslam creates a closely observed and affecting portrait of people whose traditions threaten to bury them alive. The result is a tour de force, intimate, affecting, tragic and suspenseful.
Cuckold
Kiran Nagarkar - 1997
The Rajput kingdom of Mewar is at the height of its power. It is locked in war with the Sultanates of Delhi, Gujarat and Malwa. But there is another deadly battle being waged within Mewar itself. who will inherit the throne after the death of the Maharana? The course of history, not just of Mewar but of the whole of India, is about to be changed forever. At the centre of Cuckold is the narrator, heir apparent of Mewar, who questions the codes, conventions and underlying assumptions of the feudal world of which he is a part, a world in which political and personal conduct are dictated by values of courage, valour and courtesy; and death is preferable to dishonour. A quintessentially Indian story, Cuckold has an immediacy and appeal that are truely universal.
The Rhythm of Riddles: Three Byomkesh Bakshi Mysteries
Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay - 2012
From being a household name in the Calcutta of 1930s, when he first created, to a popular face on TV in the 1990s, Byomkesh along with his friend-cum-foil Ajit is perhaps the best-loved of India's literary detectives. This collection brings together three of his classic whodunnits. From a murder in a boarding house with too many suspects to a mystery with a supernatural twist, and then busting a black - marketeering ring in rural bengal, these stories take the super sleuth to different locales on his quest for truth, and bring out his ingenuity and astuteness. Translated into English for the first time by award-winning translator Arunava Sinha, the breathless pace and thrilling plots of these action-packed adventures will win Byomkesh a new genertion of admirers.
I Take This Woman
Rajinder Singh Bedi - 1965
Tiloka, Rano's husband, is murdered leaving her with four children to look after and a hostile mother-in-law to contend with. Helpful friends and the village elders decide that Mangal, Tiloka's younger brother, should offer her protection in the form of marriage. And so a wedding of reluctant partners takes place.
The Invisible Hand
Ayad Akhtar - 2015
In remote Pakistan, Nick Bright awaits his fate. A successful financial trader, Nick is kidnapped by an Islamic militant group, but with no one negotiating his release, he agrees to an unusual plan. He will earn his own ransom by helping his captors manipulate and master the world commodities and currency markets. "[A] tense, provocative thriller about the unholy nexus of international terrorism and big bucks...."-Seattle Times "Ahktar again turns hypersensitive subjects into thought-provoking and thoughtful drama"-Newsday "The prime theme is pulsing and alive: when human lives become just one more commodity to be traded, blood eventually flows in the streets"-Financial Times "Whip-smart and twisty"-Time Out New York "The Invisible Hand offers genuine insight into the future of the West" (Village Voice).
The Middleman
Sankar - 1973
It wasn't very late, but Somnath felt as though the sun had suddenly set on impenetrable forest, giving way to a dangerous darkness.'1970s Calcutta. The city is teeming with thousands of young men in search of work. Somnath Banerjee spends his days queuing up at the employment exchange. Unable to find a job despite his qualifications, Somnath decides to go into the order - supply business as a middleman. His ambition drives him to prostitute an innocent girl for a contract that will secure the future of Somnath Enterprises. As Somnath grows from an idealistic young man into a corrupt businessman, the novel becomes a terrifying portrait of the price the city extracts from its youth.
This House of Clay and Water
Faiqa Mansab - 2017
Nida, intelligent and lonely, has married into an affluent political family and is desperately searching for some meaning in her existence; and impulsive, lovely Sasha, from the ordinary middle-class, whose longing for designer labels and upmarket places is so frantic that she willingly consorts with rich men who can provide them. Nida and Sasha meet at the famous Daata Sahib dargah and connect-their need to understand why their worlds feel so alien and empty, bringing them together. On her frequent visits to the dargah, Nida meets the gentle, flute-playing hijra Bhanggi, who sits under a bargadh tree and yearns for acceptance and affection, but is invariably shunned. A friendship-fragile, tentative and tender-develops between the two, both exiles within their own lives; but it flies in the face of all convention and cannot be allowed. Faiqa Mansab's accomplished and dazzling debut novel explores the themes of love, betrayal and loss in the complex, changing world of today's Pakistan.
The Adventure of Tom Sawyer
Subhojit Sanyal
He runsaway to an uninhabited island, falls in love, digs up treasureand saves an innocent man. Mark Twain’s timeless story of TomSawyer will take you through a journey of evolving friendships,budding romance and thrilling adventures.
Under The Mango Tree
BINA PILLAI - 2019
September 1975. Diya Nair is eighteen, a diligent student, hopelessly in love with Aditya. Married against her wishes to Rajagopal, ten years older than her, Diya is exposed to an orthodox family where they follow archaic customs that are alien to her modern upbringing. Despite this, Diya adjusts to her life in Rajagopal's ancestral house, winning his family over and even changing some of their regressive practices. But she is not able to understand Rajagopal. She gives her all to the marriage, and is blessed with two wonderful kids who become her world. Only Rajagopal's erratic, abusive behaviour is a constricting thorn in her side. He continues to break her spirit. Her thoughts keep returning to Aditya and the mango sapling they had planted together as proof of their love. Eating the fruits of the tree together seems a distant dream, an impossibility. Made resilient by repeated tribulations, will Diya overcome her biggest problems and find peace? Will Aditya and Diya ever reunite? Will Rajagopal mend his ways? Will her confidence help her find the balance in turmoil? And will life come a full circle for Diya under the very mango tree she had planted? To know more, undertake this nostalgic trip with true incidents, happenings and emotions interspersed with a dosage of fiction.
The Lives of Strangers
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni - 2005
Weaving tales of India and of the new settlers in America, Chitra Divakaruni's stories explore themes of solitude, expectations, love and betrayal, as well as other reflections on life in both the East and the West.
21 अनमोल कहानियां
Munshi Premchand - 2017
This book is an integration of 21 stories by Munshi Premchand, some of them are Ansuon ki holi, Namak ka Daroga, Shatranj ke Khiladi and many more.
Partition Voices: Untold British Stories
Kavita Puri - 2019
Yet their memory of India's partition has been shrouded in silence. Kavita Puri's father was twelve when he found himself one of the millions of Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims caught up in the devastating aftermath of a hastily drawn border. For seventy years he remained silent – like so many – about the horrors he had seen. When her father finally spoke out, opening up a forgotten part of Puri's family history, she was compelled to seek out the stories of South Asians who were once subjects of the British Raj, and are now British citizens. Determined to preserve these accounts – of the end of Empire and the difficult birth of two nations – here Puri records a series of remarkable first-hand testimonies, as well as those of their children and grandchildren whose lives are shaped by partition's legacy. With empathy, nuance and humanity, Puri weaves a breathtaking tapestry of human experience over a period of seven decades that trembles with life; an epic of ruptured families and friendships, extraordinary journeys and daring rescue missions that reverberates with pain, loss and compassion. The division of the Indian subcontinent happened far away, but it is also a very British story. Many of those affected by partition are now part of the fabric of British contemporary life, but their lives continue to be touched by this traumatic event. Partition Voices breaks the silence and confronts the difficult truths at the heart of Britain's shared history with South Asia.
Mystery Ranch
Arthur Chapman - 1921
You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
Haunting Bombay
Shilpa Agarwal - 2009
Now thirteen years old, Pinky lives with her grandmother and her uncle’s family in a bungalow on the Malabar Heights in Bombay. While she has never really been accepted by her uncle’s family, she has always had Maji’s love. One day, as monsoons engulf the city, Pinky opens a mysteriously bolted door, unleashing the ghosts of an infant who drowned shortly before Pinky’s arrival and of the nursemaid who cared for the child. Three generations of the Mittal family must struggle to come to terms with their secrets amidst hidden shame, forbidden love, and a call for absolute sacrifice.