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Catagory: Historical Fiction

Lessons in Chemistry (Special HB edition with Sprayed Edges)

* The multi-million-copy bestseller *

* THE NEW YORK TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER *

* STREAM ON APPLE TV+ *

Your ability to change everything – including yourself – starts here

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.
__________

A Book of the Year for:
Guardian, Times, Sunday Times, New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Woman and Home, Stylist, TLS Oprah Daily, Newsweek, Mail on Sunday, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, India Knight, Hay Festival, Waterstones, Amazon, Books are My Bag and many more

Winner of the Goodreads Choice Best Debut Novel Award
Author of the Year at the British Book Awards
As read on BBC Radio Four
A BBC TV ‘Between the Covers’ pick
Hay Festival Book of the Year
Winner of the Books are My Bag Reader’s Choice Award
Winner of the Books are My Bag Breakthrough Author Award
Shortlisted for the HWA Crown Award

From Waris to Heer

I am the story of the perennial lovers, Ranjha and Heer.

I am the story of Waris Shah, of Bulleh Shah’s dhammal, the rise of the Sikh misl and the fall of the Mughal Empire.

I am a story told in two parts, in two different narrative styles.

On the one hand, I am the story of a young Waris, displaced from his home and his journey to Kasur, Pakpattan and Malka Hans, where he finally composed this most iconic love legend of Punjab.

On the other hand, I am the story of Heer and Ranjha, being written by Waris Shah.

Throughout the novel, I flow between these two narratives, these two worlds—of eighteenth-century Punjab and a timeless Punjab.

Bose (Hindi)/Subhash Babu/सुभाष बाबू

आम लोग सुभाष चंद्र बोस के गांधी से मतभेद और जर्मनी व जापान की मदद से द्वितीय विश्वयुद्ध में भारत को आज़ाद करवाने के प्रयासों के बारे में जानते हैं। लेकिन अब जो सूचनाएँ सामने आ रही हैं, वो बताती हैं कि उनके देश भर के क्रांतिकारियों से कैसे संबंध थे और अध्यात्म और खुफिया मिशनों से उनको कितना लगाव था। साथ ही, उन्होंने ब्रिटिश भारतीय सेना में विद्रोह पैदा करवाने के क्या-क्या प्रयास किए थे।
प्रश्न यह है कि क्या बोस वाकई नाजियों से सहानुभूति रखते थे? उन्होंने अपनी राजनीतिक छवि दांव पर क्यों लगाई? ऐसे ही कई सवालों के जवाब सुभाष बाबू नाम की यह पुस्तक देती है। 

The Lighthouse Family

Keepers of the lonely lighthouse at Türkiye’s westernmost tip watch in horror as the Second World War sets the Aegean on fire.

Little K feels the weight of the world as he struggles with his desire to go to the city school or help look after the lighthouse as only he can. But his brother Ilyas finds a saintly courage in his limp bones and his sister Feriha becomes the strength of their spine.

While K ploughed the field in the mornings, Ilyas’ learnt the lessons in daylight to help K learn in the flickering beam of the lighthouse; knowing very well that’s the closest he’ll ever get to school. Feriha guarded the lighthouse; knowing she might be the only answer to their struggles. Their aunt Hanim Hala chanted around the mastic tree planted as a sapling: the soul of the home they left behind.

How does their happiest morning turn into an endless night, how does a family with little to do beyond the lighthouse get ripped apart by a war that was not even theirs?

As K says “…I [‘ve] realized that emptiness was the worst thing that could fill you.”

The K that grows up from that is an answer to the world that forgets about kindness in its endless pursuit of power. An emotional and warm story reminding us of the need to rise for our children, the world’s children and to protect their dreams.

Agnikaal/अग्निकाल

यह कहानी मध्यकाल के मशहूर सेनानायक मलिक काफ़ूर की है जो अल्लाउद्दीन खिलजी के दरबार में उसका नायब था। काफ़ूर को हिजड़ा बनाकर कई-कई बार बेचा गया था और बाद में वह खिलजी के दरबार में पहुँचा। उसने बड़े-बड़े कारनामे किए। उसने मंगोल हमलों से दिल्ली की रक्षा की, दक्कन का फतह किया और देवगिरि व वारंगल का राज्य जीतकर सुल्तान के कदमों में रख दिया। लेकिन उसकी महात्वाकांक्षा बाद में उसे ले डूबी और उसका पतन हुआ। इस कहानी में जीवन के कई रंग हैं और मानवीय भावनाओं का प्रस्फुटन भी है। 

Loot

Abbas is just seventeen years old when his gifts as a woodcarver come to the attention of Tipu Sultan. He is drawn into service at the palace to build a giant tiger automaton for Tipu’s sons, a gift to commemorate their return from British captivity. His fate—and the fate of the wooden tiger—will mirror the vicissitudes of nations and dynasties ravaged by war across India and Europe.

Working alongside the legendary French clockmaker Lucien du Leze, Abbas hones his craft, learns French, and meets Jehanne, the daughter of a French expatriate. When Du Leze is finally permitted to return home to Rouen, he invites Abbas to come along as his apprentice. But by the time Abbas travels to Europe, Tipu’s palace has been looted by British forces, and the tiger automaton has disappeared. To prove himself, Abbas must retrieve the tiger from an estate in the English countryside, where it is displayed as a part of a collection of plundered art.

A spellbinding historical novel set in the eighteenth century: a hero’s quest, a love story, the story of a young artist coming of age, and an exuberant heist adventure that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism across two continents and fifty years.

Angria

Kanhoji Angre is born to Tukoji Sankhpal, keeper of the Suvarnadurg Fort for Shivaji, emperor of the Marathas. A child of the seas, Kanhoji is as much at home in the turbulent waters of Konkan as in the forts and forests of the Desha mainland.

But the enemies of their empire are never too far away.

The Mughals are in constant battle with the Marathas on land, while the Siddis and the newly arrived Portuguese threaten to destroy them at sea. There’s also the British East India Company who have arrived as traders and settled on the island of Kulaba, paying taxes to Kanhoji.

Kanhoji must rise above conspiracy, deceit, war and family politics to become the Samudratala Shivaji—‘Shivaji of the Seas’.

An astounding debut, Angria is the tale of one of history’s most feared naval commanders. Amid the smell of gunpowder and salt, Sohail Rekhy brings to life a momentous era when the war for swaraj was fought on the seas of India and when only one man stood between the firangis and the Desha. This is the chronicle of a hero whose story has been lost to the waves of time.

The Man Who Avenged Bhagat Singh

In 1929, Bhagat Singh surrenders after a daring bomb attack in the heart of Delhi’s assembly. Behind bars, he prepares for an ideological battle against the empire. However, a shocking betrayal shatters his world.

Phanindra Nath Ghosh, a trusted comrade, becomes a British approver, revealing every secret of the HSRA. His damning testimony leads to multiple arrests, and then the British hang Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdeo. Popularly known as the ‘king’s witness’, he had singlehandedly brought on an armed revolution.

But with their leaders gone and British oppression at its peak, surviving HSRA members rally around one burning desire: revenge. Their target is the man who dismantled their life’s work. But with limited resources, their hopes rest on a lone figure.

From the shadows emerges Baikunth Sukul, an unassuming teacher and devoted admirer of Bhagat Singh. He swears to exact revenge on behalf of the martyrs and the HSRA.

Will he succeed in this nearly impossible mission?
What happens when he locks horns with the formidable British Raj?
And to what lengths will he go to avenge Bhagat Singh’s death?

India’s journey to Independence was filled with deeds of forgotten heroes. This is one such story of sacrifice and revenge—of a patriot against a traitor, a common man against the empire.

His Majesty’s Headhunters

Surprisingly little is known about the siege of Kohima, considered a game-changing event that altered the course of world history during the Second World War. His Majesty’s Headhunters adds to our understanding of this battle and shows how it redefined a whole era.

Providing a unique perspective of Nagaland and its warriors, this book uncovers the untold story of the siege, regarded as one of the more celebrated battles of D-Day and often referred to as the ‘Stalingrad of the East’ by Western scholars. Historians even believe that this was the last battle of the British Empire
and the first battle of the ‘New India’.

However, that is just the tale told so far by everyone except the Nagas. The real history of this battle—which involved the Japanese Army, led by Lieutenant General Sato, and the Allied forces—is yet to be recounted. As Lt Gen. Sato is said to have remarked, if it were not for the Naga people, the Allied forces would have been defeated in Kohima, and the Japanese Army would have easily secured the Dimapur railway station and moved victoriously towards Bengal via Assam, thus reversing the outcome of the war.

This rare and deeply researched historical account, drawing on records left by the officers and soldiers who fought in Kohima, is a page-turner. It brings to light the valour and spirit of the Naga ‘headhunters’, who made the supreme sacrifice to protect the honour of their people.

Whisper in the Wind

‘All the stories in the world are whispered in the wind. Listen! And the wind will blow one into your head.’
These words, whispered by a madman, haunt Jamshed Fali Irani. The young heir to a business empire in Bombay, he is in Goa to try and pursue his dream of being a writer. Locked away in a crumbling, decrepit mansion, struggling to write as the monsoon rains down, the wind brings to him the cries of a little girl wandering the ruins nearby. Alice is trying to find her sister, Sara, who went missing years ago.
Jamshed makes a reluctant promise to help her and finds himself drawn into a story that is darker and more intriguing than any he could have imagined. With his new friend, Tania, to whom he is increasingly drawn, Jamshed attempts to unravel the mystery behind Sara’s disappearance.
Jamshed’s search leads him into a tangled tale of loyalty and deceit, at the heart of which lies murder. He has to find his way through a bewildering maze of contradictions as he tries to thread together answers to a mystery that involves a girl with the voice of an angel, a violin that plays the sorrows of the heart, and the bond between two friends who swear that not even death will do them part.
In this vividly written Gothic novel, alive with the sights and smells of pre-Independence Goa, Venita Coelho tells a captivating, suspenseful, sweeping tale like no other.

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