It is the year 1568. Emperor Akbar is on the throne and all is well in Hindustan.
Or is it?
Meet Ash and Tara, two feisty kids who battle the vilest villains in Akbar’s court.
Devious minds are at work, planning to steal Akbar’s precious emerald dagger, which the emperor believes brings him good luck. Ash and Tara, twin brother and sister, growing up in a village across the Yamuna land up in Agra Fort and get to know of the conspiracy. Can they stop the ruthless Magesh and his accomplices from carrying out the plan? Or will they get framed for the theft and end up on the wrong side of the world’s most powerful monarch?
The breathless adventure twists and turns its way through the magnificent Agra Fort, the bylanes of medieval Agra and the dark, stormy forests across the Yamuna. Each story in the brand new Ash and Tara series will keep you engrossed till the final action-packed ending even as you get to know and love Akbar, Birbal, Ash, Tara and their friends like never before.
What do you do when you discover an unspeakable truth about your parents?
The Diwanchand family boasted of having only sons, no daughters. The water from a magical well in their farmhouse was the reason behind this ‘good fortune’, they said. One day, fifteen-year-old Gurmi sets out to look for the well and what he sees changes everyone’s world forever. The faces of three girls look up at him from the water, and draw him into a world of fun, games and cyber magic -and Gurmi has to face up to an unnerving truth as murky as the surreal well.
What terrible crimes have been committed behind the walls of the rambling Diwanchand family home? Will Gurmi and the ghost-girls be able to avenge the evil that has taken place and prevent yet another unspeakable atrocity from occurring?
Funny, yet sensitive and immensely powerful, Faces in the Water is the story of lives lost to appease our society’s insatiable hunger for male children, and the price families pay for its sake.
The birth of a prince in medieval India was usually followed by grand celebrations. Camped out in the wilderness when the news of Akbar’s safe delivery reached him; Humayun could only enjoy a quiet moment of thanksgiving. He broke a musk pod and as the fragrance wafted all over the camp; the new father hoped his son’s fame would similarly spread across the world.
Akbar-emperor; warrior; statesman and thinker-is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic personalities in Indian history. Crowned the king of Hindustan at the age of thirteen; his empire went on to include the farthest corners of the country. Yet he was not just a conqueror. A humanist; his deep interest in literature; architecture; art and his inclusive vision of religions at a time when such thoughts were not in fashion; set him down as one of history’s most remarkable men.
In this story of his life; as exciting and thrilling as any adventure tale; the author describes Akbar’s rough; difficult childhood spent on the run; his consolidation of the empire through war and diplomacy; the myriad interesting and entertaining people who made up his court; the strong women of the Mughal household; and finally; the intriguing circumstances under which the crown passed on to his son; Jahangir.
Accompanied by many vignettes of information about the Mughal empire and the world in the 16th century; this book is a fascinating introduction to the life and times of a ruler who still rules our imaginations.
Pick up an alien’s egg go crocodile hunting; run with a gang of pickpockets get lost in a magical maze. All this and more in these stories of adventure, humour and imagination.Oliver Twist leaves behind his gang of criminals for a better life an open window is just what a fertile mind needs in Saki’s ‘The Open Window’ Satyajit Ray’s Badan Babu has a brush with a Pterodactyl’s egg Rabindranath Tagore recollects boyhood days spent dreaming in an abandoned palanquin; and Sherlock Holmes sets off to solve the mystery of the engineer’s thumb.
Featuring the works of such renowned authors as Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, Premchand, Mark Twain and others, and a lively introduction by well-known children’s author Paro Anand, The Puffin Book of Classic Stories for Boys is a matchless collection from the masters of world literature for boys of all ages.
‘Pete and Koral were precariously poised on the Edge of the Ledge, a thin sliver of rock face that jutted out over the raging seas below. ‘Till death do us part!’ thundered the Ancient One and pushed the teen wizards over the edge, into the eye of a raging whirlpool…’
The Pearls of Wisdom bestow great powers on the ruler of the water world. But they have been snitched! The dreaded Black Magi have stolen them from right under top-notch Secret Service vampire agent Count Drunkula’s nose. The Count now faces execution for treason, and the only one who can save him and restore order in the water world is his daughter Koral.
Deep in the Sea of Secrets Koral is up against creatures from an underwater nightmare-Va Suki the thousand-headed serpent; Kraus Kraken, the turncoat Commander of the Seas; and the deadliest of them all-a new Black Magi leader on the hunt for virgin souls… Will Koral be able to return with the pearls, or will she lose something more precious than her life?
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The trail of a murder in a hotel in Kolkata takes Feluda, Topshe and Lalmohan Babu to the beautiful city of Kathmandu in Nepal. Here in the Himalayas the mystery deepens. A man claims he has a double, a crook who looks exactly like him. Then there is the tragic death of a helicopter pilot who discovered a nefarious smuggling ring. The intrepid trio faces danger amidst the busy bazaars, temples and stupas of Kathmandu and Lalmohan Babu has a scary, out-of-body experience.
Finally Feluda comes face to face with his greatest adversary, a ruthless villain who will stop at nothing . . .
Lalmohan Babu is in Bollywood! The best-selling mystery writer’s novel is being made into a Hindi film and the location for the shoot is the hill station of Darjeeling. Feluda, Topshe and Lalmohan Babu arrive in Darjeeling to watch the film being made, where they meet the mysterious Virupaksha Majumdar, a man with many secrets and a precious gold idol. When Virupaksha is murdered and the idol stolen, Feluda knows the answer lies in his past. Then Topshe and Lalmohan Babu discover a second body and things get very complicated. To make matters worse, one misty morning a shadowy figure viciously attacks Feluda.
As the trio races against time, can they solve three perplexing crimes? One of Feluda’s most exciting and thrilling cases comes alive in this newest addition to the popular comic book series.
Mandore, Rajasthan, 769 AD: Ravindra-Raj, the evil sorcerer-king, devises a deadly secret ritual, where he and his seven queens will burn on his pyre, and he will rise again with the powers of Ravana, demon-king of the epic Ramayana. But things go wrong when one queen, the beautiful, spirited Darya, escapes with the help of Aram Dhoop, the court poet. Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 2010: At the site of ancient Mandore, teenagers Vikram, Amanjit, Deepika and Rasita meet and realize that the deathless king and his ghostly brides are hunting them down. As vicious forces from the past come alive, they need to unlock truths that have been hidden for centuries, and fight an ancient battle . . . one more time.
Anyone who took one look at Shweta could guess that she was suffering from some serious physical or mental disability. What future did the Shwetas of this world have? Shobha would raise her hands heavenwards and say, ‘Surely the same Creator who brought them to the earth will look after them? I believe they are children of God, hopefully a better God than the one who looks after us.’
When Anupurba comes back to India from the United States, reluctantly leaving behind a satisfying job as an art teacher, she does so with a sense of apprehension at this displacement from her comfortable, suburban American life. She never imagines that returning to India would turn out to be a profoundly transformational and life-changing decision. A chance meeting with an old college friend introduces her to Asha Jyoti, a school for children suffering from cerebral palsy. Overcoming her initial trepidation, she agrees to volunteer as a temporary art teacher. Anupurba teaches the children how to draw and paint but it is the children who teach her the real lessons: about suffering and survival, joyous friendship, love and laughter.
Children of a Better God is a deeply touching, tenderly written story about the agonizing challenges faced by children who have to live with lifelong disability, and the ways in which these very special children can powerfully enrich our lives with their grit, positive spirit and sheer courage.
