Book picks similar to
The Owl Delivered The Good News All Night Long by Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai
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indian-literature
The Space Between Us
Thrity Umrigar - 2006
Set in modern-day India, it is the story of two compelling and achingly real women: Sera Dubash, an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose opulent surroundings hide the shame and disappointment of her abusive marriage, and Bhima, a stoic illiterate hardened by a life of despair and loss, who has worked in the Dubash household for more than twenty years.
Twin Torment
Sundari Venkatraman - 2013
The only child of a rich businessman, Sanya hates her aimless life and grabs the chance to revisit Mumbai, where she had spent the first twelve years of her life. The main attraction is her childhood sweetheart Arth Sharma. She hopes to rekindle the love she used to feel for him as a kid. Sanya’s thrilled with the opportunity to holiday with the Sharmas. But it’s Arth’s tormenting twin Ansh who insists on spending time with her while the man of her dreams is never around. And the worst part is that her body plays traitor, lusting after the devilishly handsome Ansh. Will Sanya find relief from her bored life? And the love she came in search of? Read the book to find how destiny plays a strong role as Sanya deals with the Twin Torment in her life.
No Matter What . . . I will always love you!
Rohit Dawesar - 2020
From romantic escapes in the beaches of Goa to witnessing the beautiful Manali sky lit up with fireworks on a Diwali night, Rishi and Mishika’s lives were like an exciting roller-coaster ride every moment that they were together. But when Mishika disappears on the morning of their engagement without leaving so much as a wisp of a trace behind, Rishi finds himself alone and adrift in a dark sea of doubts and fears. Was this one of those pranks that Mishika loved to pull on him to test his love for her? Or had something happened to her? Join Rishi as he tries to look for answers in an unforgiving world where holding on to even the slightest bit of hope is a daily struggle. Will he ever find Mishika? Was she even alive? What unbelievable things would his love for her make him do? From the bestselling author of the stupid somebody comes yet another gripping story that will make you laugh, cry, and reaffirm your faith in the strength of love.About the AuthorRohit Dawesar is an author from Indore, whose debut novel, The Stupid Somebody, became a national bestseller soon after its release in 2017. Popular for his Nanotales, short stories and poems that he posts on his social media accounts and on his website, Rohit started writing when he realised that the story he had in his mind was a unique tale that needed to be told. Now a full-time writer who creates magic with his words, he also owned a coaching institute for engineering and MBA students at one point in time, was a director at Entrepreneurs Consulting Pvt. Ltd., and is also the co-founder and director of a fast-food restaurant brand named The Urban Gumti. He is a book lover and a movie and television series fanatic who will hardly say no to a cup of coffee any time.
Ghachar Ghochar
Vivek Shanbhag - 2013
As they move from a cramped, ant-infested shack to a larger house on the other side of Bangalore, and try to adjust to a new way of life, the family dynamic begins to shift. Allegiances realign; marriages are arranged and begin to falter; and conflict brews ominously in the background. Things become “ghachar ghochar”—a nonsense phrase uttered by one meaning something tangled beyond repair, a knot that can't be untied. Elegantly written and punctuated by moments of unexpected warmth and humor, Ghachar Ghochar is a quietly enthralling, deeply unsettling novel about the shifting meanings—and consequences—of financial gain in contemporary India.
The Blue Moon Day
Santhosh Sivaraj - 2018
They had no other choice but to take a plunge into their deepest fear and leave the rest to destiny. Their characters was tested out of their comfort zone and it witnessed abstruse results; a PhD scholar fights to win a pizza making contest and a tennis prodigy running for his life in a war torn, bloodied Island. Extreme circumstances and their consequences made these ordinary individuals extraordinary . Was the test imposed on them by someone? Or did they invite it on themselves. The Blue Moon Day is that Once in a Blue Moon day story which questions an individual's priorities, ridicules the worldly routines and finally redefines happiness.
The Lowland
Jhumpa Lahiri - 2013
In the suburban streets of Calcutta where they wandered before dusk and in the hyacinth-strewn ponds where they played for hours on end, Udayan was always in his older brother's sight. So close in age, they were inseparable in childhood and yet, as the years pass - as U.S tanks roll into Vietnam and riots sweep across India - their brotherly bond can do nothing to forestall the tragedy that will upend their lives. Udayan - charismatic and impulsive - finds himself drawn to the Naxalite movement, a rebellion waged to eradicate inequity and poverty. He will give everything, risk all, for what he believes, and in doing so will transform the futures of those dearest to him: his newly married, pregnant wife, his brother and their parents. For all of them, the repercussions of his actions will reverberate across continents and seep through the generations that follow. Epic in its canvas and intimate in its portrayal of lives undone and forged anew, The Lowland is a deeply felt novel of family ties that entangle and fray in ways unforeseen and unrevealed, of ties that ineluctably define who we are. With all the hallmarks of Jhumpa Lahiri's achingly poignant, exquisitely empathetic story-telling, this is her most devastating work of fiction to date.
Darjeeling Inheritance
Liz Harris - 2021
She learns that her beloved father died a couple of days earlier and that he left her his estate. She learns also that it was his wish that she marry Andrew McAllister, the good-looking younger son from a neighbouring plantation. Unwilling to commit to a wedding for which she doesn’t feel ready, Charlotte pleads with Dan Fitzgerald, the assistant manager of Sundar, to teach her how to run the plantation while she gets to know Andrew. Although reluctant as he knew that a woman would never be accepted as manager by the local merchants and workers, Dan agrees. Charlotte’s chaperone on the journey from England, Ada Eastman, who during the long voyage, has become a friend, has journeyed to Darjeeling to marry Harry Banning, the owner of a neighbouring tea garden. When Ada marries Harry, she’s determined to be a loyal and faithful wife. And to be a good friend to Charlotte. And nothing, but nothing, was going to stand in the way of that.
The Ascetic of Desire: A Novel of the Kama Sutra
Sudhir Kakar - 2000
In The Ascetic of Desire, called a literary achievement of the highest order, by The Times (India), acclaimed author Sudhir Kakar tells the story of the man who is believed to be the author of the Kama Sutra, Vatsyayana, and the time in which he lived-the fourth century A.D., considered the golden age of Indian history. In The Ascetic of Desire, the elusive sage Vatsyayana recounts his youth to a young pupil. The young man, planning to write Vatsyayana's biography, listens dutifully as Vatsyayana shares stories of a childhood spent largely in the brothel where his favorite aunt worked. As Vatsyayana's story unfolds, the pupil finds, to his consternation, that his own life has begun to reflect and parallel the ascetic's narrative. At the point where their stories intersect, the unexpected happens. Like Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, Sudhir Kakar's novel is a startling combination of psychological insight and historical detail. With rights sold in eleven countries, this is a story of universal appeal imbued with a distant world's charm and exotic allure. The best novel on sex and sensuality I have ever read. (Khushwant Singh, author of Train to Pakistan)
The Enchantress of Florence
Salman Rushdie - 2008
The stranger claims to be the child of a lost Mughal princess, the youngest sister of Akbar's grandfather Babar: Qara Koz, 'Lady Black Eyes', a great beauty believed to possess powers of enchantment and sorcery, who is taken captive first by an Uzbek warlord, then by the Shah of Persia, and finally becomes the lover of a certain Argalia, a Florentine soldier of fortune, commander of the armies of the Ottoman Sultan. When Argalia returns home with his Mughal mistress the city is mesmerized by her presence, and much trouble ensues. The Enchantress of Florence is the story of a woman attempting to command her own destiny in a man's world. It brings together two cities that barely know each other - the hedonistic Mughal capital, in which the brilliant emperor wrestles daily with questions of belief, desire and the treachery of sons, and the equally sensual Florentine world of powerful courtesans, humanist philosophy and inhuman torture, where Argalia's boyhood friend "il Machia" - Niccolo' Machiavelli - is learning, the hard way, about the true brutality of power. These two worlds, so far apart, turn out to be uncannily alike, and the enchantments of women hold sway over them both. But is Mogor's story true? And if so, then what happened to the lost princess? And if he's a liar, must he die?
Verdicts on Nehru: The Rise and Fall of A Reputation (e-Single)
Ramachandra Guha - 2013
On Jawaharlal Nehru's 50th death anniversary, Ramachandra Guha assesses his place in history, and his contribution to the building of modern India and its democratic institutions
Her Hopeful Heart
Kari Trumbo - 2021
Abe's request was specific. He wanted a widow and someone to teach his unruly daughter. While she's up for the task, there's also the lingering pain of Abe's last wife.Abe doesn't really want another bride in his life. The first one walked out on him with a barely one year old daughter to care for. He's gruff and he knows it's because he doesn't want to care about anyone, until Anna dances through his house singing out of tune...Anna tries to keep her feelings out of their marriage, but Abe's sudden kindness is a balm to her young and mourning soul.Can two hearts so opposed to love, find their happily ever after?Don't miss this sweet, western, Christian romance, full of action, adventure, and cowboys with heart. Scroll up to buy your copy now!
Latitudes of Longing
Shubhangi Swarup - 2018
The novel sweeps across India, from an island, to a valley, a city, and a snow desert to tell a love story of epic proportions. We follow a scientist who studies trees and a clairvoyant who speaks to them; a geologist working to end futile wars over a glacier; octogenarian lovers; a mother struggling to free her revolutionary son; a yeti who seeks human companionship; a turtle who transforms first into a boat and then a woman; and the ghost of an evaporated ocean as restless as the continents. Binding them all together is a vision of life as vast as the universe itself. A young writer awarded one of the most prestigious prizes in India for this novel, Shubhangi Swarup is a storyteller of extraordinary talent and insight. Richly imaginative and wryly perceptive, Latitudes of Longing offers a soaring view of humanity: our beauty and ugliness, our capacity to harm and love each other, and our mysterious and sacred relationship with nature.
Days of Longing
Nirmal Verma - 1964
The professional meeting explodes into an intense, passionate relationship. Prague in winter is a beautiful and moody setting to the feverish love affair. The complicated and inevitably short-lived romance is poignant and deeply moving in its telling by the master of the modern Hindi novel, Nirmal Verma.This book is translation of original novel in Hindi, called Ve Din.
A Suitable Boy
Vikram Seth - 1993
Rupa Mehra, are both trying to find—through love or through exacting maternal appraisal—a suitable boy for Lata to marry. Set in the early 1950s, in an India newly independent and struggling through a time of crisis, A Suitable Boy takes us into the richly imagined world of four large extended families and spins a compulsively readable tale of their lives and loves. A sweeping panoramic portrait of a complex, multiethnic society in flux, A Suitable Boy remains the story of ordinary people caught up in a web of love and ambition, humor and sadness, prejudice and reconciliation, the most delicate social etiquette and the most appalling violence.
Narcopolis
Jeet Thayil - 2012
In Rashid's opium room the air is thick and potent. A beautiful young woman leans to hold a long-stemmed pipe over a flame, her hair falling across her dark eyes. Around her, men sprawl and mutter in the gloom, each one drifting with his own tide. Here, people say that you introduce only your worst enemy to opium.Outside, stray dogs lope in packs. Street vendors hustle. Hookers call for custom through the bars of their cages as their pimps slouch in doorways in the half-light. There is an underworld whisper of a new terror: the Pathar Maar, the stone killer, whose victims are the nameless, invisible poor. There are too many of them to count in this broken city.Narcopolis is a rich, chaotic, hallucinatory dream of a novel that captures the Bombay of the 1970s in all its compelling squalor. With a cast of pimps, pushers, poets, gangsters and eunuchs, it is a journey into a sprawling underworld written in electric and utterly original prose.