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Archives: Books

Independence for Life: The Complete Guide to Building Strength and Regaining Mobility Beyond 50

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Thriving Beyond Fifty.

Getting older doesn’t have to mean slowing down. Discover how to create a personalized plan to build strength, protect bone health, restore balance and improve mobility at any age.

Physiotherapist and over-50s health specialist Will Harlow, who has helped millions through his YouTube channel, shows you how to build your own transformative, step-by-step plan based on his Four Pillars of Independence – strength, mobility, balance and skeletal health. First, you’ll assess your starting point, then choose exercises to target your weak areas and create a routine that grows with you. This isn’t about fixing one issue at a time – it’s about building a plan to keep your whole body strong, mobile and independent for years to come.

Inside, you’ll find science-backed strategies, easy-to-follow exercises and simple self-assessments to help you track your progress and stay motivated, whatever your starting point.

You’ll learn how to:

• Build muscle and stability safely at any age, even if you’ve never trained before.
• Improve balance and coordination to prevent falls and move with confidence.
• Protect and strengthen your bones to reduce the risk of fracture.
• Maintain and restore mobility with targeted stretching and movement routines.
• Reduce pain so you can stay active and get back to doing the things you love.
• Create a structured routine you can follow week by week and adapt as you improve.

Independence for Life is more than a collection of exercises – it’s your complete guide to building a clear, personalized roadmap for ageing well. You’re not too old and it’s never too late – you just haven’t had the right plan. Until now

Page One to Done: Finish Your Novel in 30 Days with the Fast Drafting Method

Finally finish the first draft of your novel with a method that maximizes efficiency, speed, and joy—from the author of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel.

After months (or years) of writing, are you left with nothing but a folder full of false starts? Do you have a novel you were once excited to write but abandoned after only a few chapters—or even halfway through? Are you trapped in an endless cycle of rewrites, self-doubt, and perfectionism?

Enter the Novel Fast Drafting Method: a proven approach for getting your book out of your head and onto the page in as little as 30 days. Best-selling author and writing coach Jessica Brody will guide you step-by-step through her 3-phase process that’s helped thousands of writers finish their first drafts in weeks instead of years:

• Mindset: Adopt the mindset of a “chronic finisher” and overcome the destructive beliefs that cause 97% of writers to quit
• Preparation: Build your story’s foundation, set achievable goals, and prepare both your day-to-day life and writing schedule for success
• Drafting: Master proven strategies to maintain consistent momentum, discover the story faster, and finish in record time—so you’re ready to revise with confidence and clarity

With fast drafting, you’ll gain the mental space, freedom, and motivation to easily and more joyfully finish every writing project you start—faster than you ever thought possible.

The Smallest of Joys: How to Create Your Own Magic, Let Your Best Be Enough and Find Contentment Exactly as You Are

From social media’s favorite vintage nana: warm, heartfelt advice on how to discover joy and beauty in your everyday life. Have a cup of tea and settle in!

“In times when unexpected disappointments seem lurking around every corner it’s even more important to focus your attention on things that are beautiful.”—Diane Shiffer

Known to her nearly 2.5M followers as @shifferdiane on TikTok and Instagram, Diane Shiffer is the internet’s favorite nana. Her cozy, candid posts—featuring cups of coffee on the porch, cats on the countertop, and vintage treasures—have become a sanctuary for those craving softness and kindness in a divided and harsh time.

Like a collection of letters from a wise and loving grandparent, this book offers warmth, wisdom, and encouragement for anyone seeking more peace, joy, and self-acceptance. Diane’s signature blend of gentle humor, vintage charm, and heartfelt reflection invites you to slow down and reconnect with what matters most. When we treat ourselves with kindness, we often find that life flows more easily—and even joyfully.

THE SMALLEST OF JOYS is an invitation to slow down, embrace self-love, and welcome a little stillness (maybe even silliness!) into your days. With short, heartfelt chapters, you’ll discover how to:

• Embrace your inner weirdo
• Be patient with yourself through life’s changes
• Keep a tidy home without overwhelm
• Develop a positive body image
• Heal from heartbreak
• Connect with others through gratitude
• Find everyday magic in the simplest moments

Whether you’ve been following Diane for years or are just meeting her now, this book is like a warm teacup in your hands and a soft blanket around your shoulders. A modern antidote to hustle culture and self-criticism, it’s a reminder that kindness—especially toward yourself—can be a powerful way to live.

Hinduism: A Comprehensive Guide to Hindu Thought, Practice, and Tradition

Drawing from a rich tapestry of theology, philosophy, mythology, and important cultural practices, Hinduism offers a comprehensive journey into one of the world’s oldest and most enduring spiritual traditions.

The book explores the foundations of the Hindu religion—its ethics, rituals, and profound spiritual heritage—in a manner that is both accessible and deeply illuminating for all readers. By weaving together insights from sacred Hindu scriptures (the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Itihasas, and the Bhagavad Gita), along with the core tenets of dharma and inner freedom, it reveals the universal message of truth, harmony, and self-realisation embedded within Hindu thought.

More than a religious study, this work is an invitation to discover the spiritual depth, intellectual richness, and cultural grandeur of Hinduism. Whether you are a seeker of knowledge, a practitioner, or simply curious about India’s ancient wisdom, this book serves as a valuable guide to understanding the eternal principles that continue to inspire humanity across generations.

USPs:

1. A clear and accessible guide to a complex tradition
Breaks down the foundations of Hinduism—its philosophy, ethics, rituals, and worldview—in a way that is easy to understand without oversimplifying its depth.

2. Rooted in authoritative scriptures and core concepts
 Draws directly from key Hindu texts such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Itihasas, and the Bhagavad Gita, while explaining essential ideas like dharma, karma, and inner freedom.

3. Bridges ancient wisdom with modern relevance
 Presents timeless principles of truth, harmony, and self-realisation in a way that resonates with contemporary readers and modern life.

Socialism on the Horizon

Akhilesh Yadav is one of the most significant and closely followed political leaders in contemporary India. As former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and the current president of the Samajwadi Party, he represents a generation of politicians attempting to balance legacy politics with the aspirations of a younger, rapidly changing India.

Socialism on the Horizon takes a close and critical look at his leadership, political journey, and evolving understanding of socialism in the context of Indian parliamentary democracy. It explores how Akhilesh Yadav has sought to redefine socialist politics at a time shaped by economic change, identity debates, media-driven narratives, and shifting voter expectations. At the same time, the book places his politics within the larger story of the Global South in the twenty-first century, examining questions of governance, social justice, democracy, and opposition politics in an increasingly complex world.

More than a political study, this book will interest policymakers, researchers, journalists, students and scholars of social science and general readers interested in exploring contemporary Indian democracy. It offers an accessible yet insightful examination of one of India’s most influential political leaders of our times.

The Heart of Jainism

One evening, a group of young people gathers before a Sadhvi in a Jain Sthanak. Their questions are simple, though difficult to answer: how to live well, how to deal with anger and attachment, how to make sense of suffering, how to stay honest in the middle of ordinary life.
What follows is a series of conversations in which the teachings of the Tirthankars are slowly understood in today’s context. Ahimsa, karma, aparigraha, dhyana, kaivalya, and the householder’s path are seen afresh as part of everyday life.
In The Heart of Jainism, Daaji brings Jain wisdom into everyday life through stories, conversations, and reflections.

A Mountain, A Lake and a Song

No matter how far you travel, you cannot escape that, which is within you, because it is inexplicably yours and yours alone to think about; to negate or to accept.
In this deeply evocative memoir-travelogue, Manav the writer, the traveller, the theatre artist, the dreamer, the escapist embarks on a journey that’s both within and without. As he moves along, he traces his emotional process, the coming together with a city and its people, their music, their rhythms and then abandoning it all and moving to another. In doing so, sometimes he’s mesmerized by the beauty of a place and sometimes repulsed. Sometimes his writing flows, and sometimes he gives it up for life itself.
Manav’s movement is with great sensitivity and understanding, as if trying not to disturb the equilibrium.
A Mountain, a Lake and a Song is a contemplative read—sensuous and imaginative. The reader is more than welcome to join in and make it their own.

Ayyankali

‘Mahatma’ Ayyankali’s (1863–1941) social interventions were radical, secular and fundamental, aimed at ensuring dignity, social justice and economic equality for Dalits. Few people know that his famous ‘Leave the fields fallow’ call to Dalits was aimed not at securing better wages, but for ensuring their right to education. His shrewd and practical political foresight is best evidenced in the manner in which he orchestrated the events that led to the rejection of the kallayum malayum—symbols of Dalit female enslavement.

M.R. Renukumar’s biography of the reformer was first published in Malayalam in 2017. In Catherine Thankamma’s translation, Ayyankali’s life and work now comes to readers across the world.

A Quest for the Perfect Rice

A Quest for the Perfect Rice is not a cookbook—it’s a cultural epic served on a plate

This is biryani as you’ve never encountered it before: not a recipe, but a civilization in a pot. Blending history, food writing and storytelling, the book takes you on a richly layered journey through the origins of biryani, khichadi, pulao, tehari and India’s enduring rice traditions.

Framed as a surreal midnight conversation with the spirit of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the last ruler of Awadh, the narrative unfolds like a grand, ghost-hosted durbar. As the night deepens, legendary figures from history arrive—bringing with them stories of royal kitchens, forgotten rituals, culinary rivalries and the evolution of India’s most beloved dish.

Part food history, part cultural anthropology and part whimsical storytelling, this book traces over 5000 years of culinary evolution—exploring Persian influences, regional adaptations and the emotional role rice plays in Indian homes and celebrations. From Muradabadi to Anglo-Indian variations, each chapter reveals how geography, memory and identity shape what ends up on our plates.

Witty, immersive and deeply researched, A Quest for the Perfect Rice is a feast of stories where flavour meets folklore. If you love biryani, food history, Indian culture or simply a great story well told, this book will change the way you see every grain of rice.

When We Are Strangers

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan: Two kindred souls who fought the British empire and were united in thought and deed.

Mahmud and Sita. A photographer and a student of history who wanted to make history, not merely record it.

When We Are Strangers unfolds across some of the most dramatic, and yet often forgotten, moments of the anticolonial struggle—from the streets of a Peshawar bazaar where the Khudai Khidmatgars stood unarmed before British bullets and the Garhwal Rifles laid down their arms, to Gandhi and Bacha Khan as they walked through Bengal and Bihar to suture the wounds of Partition violence – these are stories that resist the theft of a shared inheritance, and insist on the world-making capacity of individual courage and collective dreams.

Written by Vazira Zamindar and illustrated by Sarnath Banerjee, this graphic novel moves through acts of care, self-discovery, friendship and steadfast faith, so that we may yet live together again.

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