Meanwhile, 17 year-old Pakistani student, Sikander, yearns for the freedom of his tribal brethren in neighboring Afghanistan, and that leads him to admire everything American but more directly, to want to study and live in America. When a heated quarrel stemming from a naive indiscretion about his parents' financial woes provokes Sikander into leaving the comfort of his upper-middle class home, events lead to his being thrust into the very heart of the Afghan resistance. Between fighting the Russians and living among the mujahideen villagers, Sikander meets Rabia, the independent, uneducated, but sharp-witted niece of his Afghan mentor and he begins to have feelings her. After two years, aided by long-awaited American Stinger missiles, Sikander and the mujahideen prevail. Amid the euphoria of victory and the prospects for peace Sikander and Rabia cement their love in marriage.With the war over, Sikander decides its time he and his new bride head back to Pakistan for a reconciliation with his family. To their delight he is welcomed back as a long missed, war hero and the couple settle in with his now financially recovered family. Years pass, and Sikander prospers in the family business, while feeling though never fulfilling his desire to move to America. But then a bitter civil war rages in neighboring Afghanistan that results in the rise of the Taliban and with it, an unraveling of Rabia's family. Things get far worse when the tragedy of 9/11 strikes, and aided by Rabia's pleadings Sikander feels compelled to make the perilous journey across the border to persuade her family to come back with hm and away from the conflict. He manages to find them and lead them to the relative safety of Pakistan but not without himself being placed on collision course with the country of his dreams - America.Learn more about this remarkable story at http://www.sikanderbook.com

    In these marvellous essays on history, politics and society, cultural critic Nadeem Farooq Paracha upturns various reductive readings of the country by revealing its multi-layered reality. With wit and insight, he investigates past events and their implications for modern-day society. Thus, one piece explores how and why Mohenjo-daro has been neglected as a historical site, and another examines how Muhammad-bin-Qasim, who briefly invaded Sindh in 713 CE, has come to be lionised as the original founder of Pakistan. There is a story about a Pakistani Jimi Hendrix who plays the guitar like a dream and also one about a medieval emperor who lives on in the swear words of a Punjabi peasant. There are essays on Pakistani pop music, on Afro-Pakistanis and on how Jhuley Lal came to be more than just a folk deity for Sindhi immigrants in India. Points of Entry examines the constant struggle between two distinct tendencies in Pakistani civic-nationalism—one modernist, the other theocratic—and the complex society it has birthed.

    After leaving her friend's house, she decides she's going to prove to her brother that "The Lady on the Road " urban legend is just that...

    Ali's target is none other than General Zia ul-Haq, dictator of Pakistan. Enlisting a rag-tag group of conspirators, including his cologne-bathed roommate, a hash-smoking American lieutenant, and a mango-besotted crow, Ali sets his elaborate plan in motion. There's only one problem: the line of would-be Zia assassins is longer than he could have possibly known.

    An aging feudal landlord's household staff, the villagers who depend on his favor, and a network of relations near and far who have sought their fortune in the cities confront the advantages and constraints of station, the dissolution of old ways, and the shock of change. Mueenuddin bares—at times humorously, at times tragically—the complexities of Pakistani class and culture and presents a vivid picture of a time and a place, of the old powers and the new, as the Pakistani feudal order is undermined and transformed.

    In a restless and mobile nation he could have escaped from the past, assumed another identity. But in the close-knit community of South Kenton at the turn of the century, he could not escape. — From his earliest years, Dan seemed marked out by fate as one of its victims. In the eyes of the small respectable American town he was an outcast, a social misfit. His mother was dead; his father was only a blacksmith and , what was worse, a drunkard, and the two of them lived in a two-room shack behind the smithy. When Dan fell in love, it was with a woman twenty-two years older than him; when he got married, it was to a woman who hated him and wanted to make him suffer, and who succeeded - even after her death.This is the poignant story of a man who chose to do more than to look and pass'; a man who was good, honorable and high of heart, but whose end was lonely and tragic.

    It's about life. Set in a small Oklahoma town in the mid-1960s—a simple place in a confusing time—Flatbellies is partly about the seemingly unreachable goal of a high school golf team: to win the state championship. But mostly it's about the way Chipper, Jay, L.K., Buster, the unforgettable Peachy, and their friends learn to deal with love, loss, friendship, fear, triumph, tragedy, growing up, and growing together. Fictionalized from the author's teenage years in the heartland of America, Flatbellies is a memorable and moving coming-of-age story.

    Here are the hidden dramatic realities of the upper class, the undertow of religion, revealing the truth sometimes spoken in hushed whispers, more often swept away by the flourish of silk saris at extravagant dinner parties . . . or perhaps never mentioned at all.Often tragic, always youthful, yet never what those in the West expect, here in fully realized first-person prose are the lives of Ayla, the protagonist, and her boundaries and customs, as well as those of her friends: Alia, oppressed by her wealthy, overly conservative parents, and Tanzeela, a teenager trapped in an abusive arranged marriage. From silk saris to bombings; from fundamentalism to American sympathy; from Dior makeup to desperate poverty; from sexual abuse to religious taboos, the world of Ayla, in her late teens, struggling in the real world of modern-day Pakistan, is anything but simple.Silk Tether is a revealing, truthful, poignant novel destined to become a must-read by westerners seeking to understand the complex world of Islamic fundamentalist countries.

     Before you can say Pensioner Barbie she’s in a stolen car, heading to the North Yorkshire coastal village of Kearton Bay in search of the father she never knew, with only her three-year-old daughter and a family-sized bag of Maltesers for company. Ignoring the pleas of her uncle, chat show presenter Joe Hollingsworth, Eliza determines to find the man who abandoned her mother and discover the reason he left them to their fate. All she has to go on is his name – Raphael – but in such a small place there can’t be more than one angel, can there? Gabriel Bailey may have the name of an angel but he’s not feeling very blessed. In fact, the way his life’s been going he doesn’t see how things can get much worse. Then Eliza arrives with her flash car and designer clothes, reminding him of things he’d rather forget, and he realises that if he’s to have any kind of peace she’s one person he must avoid at all costs. But with the help of beautiful Wiccan landlady, Rhiannon, and quirky pink-haired café owner, Rose, Eliza is soon on the trail of her missing angel, and her investigations lead her straight into Gabriel’s path. As her search takes her deeper into the heart of his family, Eliza begins to realise that she’s in danger of hurting those she cares about deeply. Is her quest worth it? And is the angel she’s seeking really the one she’s meant to find?

    A handsome author strikes up a conversation with an actress in a bookshop in Manhattan, and she knows this is the start of something that will change her life forever.

    However, the urge to explore and experiment amongst the youth is at an all-time high. This friction, if not handled well, could lead to unexpected roads. Each story, though high on emotions, unfolds in a thrilling narrative.

    All around him lights are flashing on and generators are powering up. Bang. The sound comes from the other side of the 15-inch thick steel door. One of Them. Above the bunker, a rabies outbreak has mutated into a deadly worldwide infection that attacks the very essence of being human, leaving only the most primitive desire: to feed. Against this onslaught, there is one defense - Bunker Z.

    To her dismay, Luke Kelly arrives at her ranch a much different and broken man. Can Meg ever forgive his callous treatment of her and help Luke become the man he used to be?Grant Me The Moon by Caroline ClemmonsAll Tory Fraser intended was to show her high school history club students a local archeology dig. How could she know the excursion would involve a murder?Three for The Win by Keta DiabloHollis should have known better than to fall for a bone-melting man like Stede. He’s gone now and Eli is left to pick up the broken pieces of her life.Border Affair by Hebby RomanWhen his partners’ daughter is kidnapped in México, a self-made millionaire must confront his feelings about their affair and the future of their relationship.Leaving Necessity by Margo Bond CollinsMac has one week to convince his ex-girlfriend Clara not to sell his oil company. In this high-pressure reunion, can they strike love again?The Shape of Destiny by Julie A. D’ArcyA young male shape shifter. A beautiful female ranch owner. Can love be born in a web of deceit?Bad Boy, Big Heart by Andrea Downing She’s a New Yorker escaping her parents. He’s a Wyoming cowboy supporting his dad. One summer, two young people—three months to find love.Desert Heat by Patti Sherry-CrewsA single mother struggling to keep her guest ranch puts her own desires on hold. When a handsome and persistent fireman sets his sights on her, she must decide how much she’s willing to give.

    His wife is gone and his neighbors avoid him. He’s a recluse and a creep, and that’s just the way he wants it; he can ignore what they say behind his back if they leave him to his work and his daily walks. But when ten-year-old Emma goes missing in the nearby woods, the eyes of his neighbors turn toward him, their fear and accusations escalating as the days go by. Jack proclaims his innocence, but what the neighbors—and the reader—find out is the last thing anyone would suspect.

    But neither Partition nor prostitution gave birth to the genius of Saadat Hasan Manto. They only furnished him with an occasion to reveal the truth of the human condition.My Name Is Radha is a path-breaking selection of stories which delves deep into Manto’s creative world. In this singular collection, the focus rests on Manto the writer. It does not draft him into being Manto the commentator. Muhammad Umar Memon’s inspired choice of Manto’s best-known stories, along with those less talked about, and his precise and elegant translation showcase an astonishing writer being true to his calling.