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Catagory: Literature & Fiction

Written in the Stars

When all her efforts at political maneuvering, sucking up and even doing her job fail to land her that elusive promotion, Sitara decides it’s time to use the new marketing head Abhimanyu’s obsession with his horoscope to her advantage.Soon, she’s rescheduling meetings, pitching ideas and picking launch dates based on his horoscope. Except, Sitara is so focused on manipulating Abhimanyu with the career section of his horoscope that she doesn’t pay attention to the personal section. Hilarity ensues when these star-crossed signals result in Abhimanyu pursuing Sitara romantically, without realizing that the ‘signs’ are engineered coincidences in her quest to get promoted.

Soon, Sitara is faced with choosing what she really wants-a career progression or true love. She must chart her own course even if what she has in mind may not be what the stars ordained. Written in the Stars is a romantic comedy about life, love and whether the biggest things in life are the choices you make or what destiny has in store for you.

Anti-clock (SHORTLISTED FOR THE JCB PRIZE, FROM THE WINNER OF THE KERALA SAHITYA AKADEMI AWARD, VAYALAR AWARD)

PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE IS PROUD TO PUBLISH ANTI-CLOCK, WINNER OF THE O.V. VIJAYAN AWARD AND THIKKURISSI AWARD

‘James is very inventive and very imaginative with a great sense of humour. There is a sort of eccentric genius animating the story’ JURY, JCB PRIZE FOR LITERTURE

‘A philosophical novel that discusses the mysterious problems of life and death’ BENYAMIN

‘”Time is everything, man is nothing; he is, at most, time’s carcass.” V.J. James’s novel Anti-Clock has given an extremely creative twist to these words by Karl Marx’ O.V. VIJAYAN PRIZE

Hendri, the coffin maker, has one goal in life: to see the dead body of his nemesis Satan Loppo being lowered into the coffin he has painstakingly carved. For it was Loppo who defiled his beloved Beatrice, and let loose his hellhound Hitler upon Hendri, giving him a permanent limp.
From inside his coffin shop, Hendri watches the world go by even as he prepares to deliver justice upon Loppo. He is confronted by the son of his best friend becoming enamoured with Loppo’s wealth, Loppo’s evil designs towards the hills of Aadi Nadu, and his own Christian guilt that regularly comes to haunt him. Until he meets Pundit, a 112-year-old watchmaker who was part of Bose’s Indian National Army and is building an ‘Anti-Clock‘, which can turn back time. When Loppo too hears of the Anti-Clock and desires to possess it, the inevitable battle becomes a reality.

The Startup Wife

Meet Asha Ray.

Brilliant coder and possessor of a Pi tattoo, Asha is poised to revolutionize artificial intelligence when she is reunited with her high school crush, Cyrus Jones.

Cyrus inspires Asha to write a new algorithm. Before she knows it, she’s abandoned her PhD program, they’ve exchanged vows, and gone to work at an exclusive tech incubator called Utopia.

The platform creates a sensation, with millions of users seeking personalized rituals every day. Will Cyrus and Asha’s marriage survive the pressures of sudden fame, or will she become overshadowed by the man everyone is calling the new messiah?

In this gripping, blistering novel, award-winning author Tahmima Anam takes on faith and the future with a gimlet eye and a deft touch. Come for the radical vision of human connection, stay for the wickedly funny feminist look at startup culture and modern partnership. Can technology-with all its limits and possibilities-disrupt love?

The Bombay Prince

November 1921. Edward VIII, Prince of Wales and future ruler of India, is arriving in Bombay to begin a fourmonth tour. The Indian subcontinent is chafing under British rule, and Bombay solicitor Perveen Mistry isn’t surprised when local unrest over the royal arrival spirals into riots. But she’s horrified by the death of Freny Cuttingmaster, an eighteen-year-old female Parsi student, who falls from a second-floor gallery just as the prince’s grand procession is passing by her college.

Freny had come for a legal consultation just days before her death, and what she confided makes Perveen suspicious that her death was not an accident. Feeling guilty for failing to have helped Freny in life, Perveen steps forward to assist Freny’s family in the fraught dealings of the coroner’s inquest. When Freny’s death appears suspicious, Perveen knows she can’t rest until she sees justice done. But Bombay is erupting: as armed British secret service march the streets, rioters attack anyone with perceived British connections and desperate shopkeepers destroy their own wares so they will not be targets of racial violence. Can Perveen help a suffering family when her own is in danger?

Little America

Born in a Karachi slum, Sharif Barkati became obsessed with “American” ideas of love and freedom at a very young age. He began to dream of a public place in the city that did not follow the rules, where people would be free to say and do whatever they wanted under open skies, away from the conservative eyes of Pakistani society.
With the help of his friend Afzal – and TJ, an extremely wealthy Pakistani-American – Sharif was able to realize his dream in the form of a colossal compound on the Karachi coast, full of bars, cafes, clubs, and the people of Karachi strolling about, hand in hand.
They called it Little America.
Now in prison, Sharif tells the story of his life in a letter to his favorite novelist, hoping that he will turn it into a literary masterpiece. At once a rollicking journey around the mind of a man desperate to be free, an allegory of the neocolonial endeavour, and an investigation of the desire to emulate the perceived superior while desperately trying to hold on to one’s own cultural identity, Little America asks the question: What, really, is freedom, and what can be sacrificed in its name?

Fighter Cock

A desolate land.
A debauched patriarch.
An upstart in search of a reputation.
A man running away from one.

Shikargarh, central India. An untamed wilderness ruled by a dissolute raja with a passion for sex, drugs and cockfighting. The raja’s Karianath fighter cocks are the undisputed champions of the area – but their reign is challenged by the new Aseel fighters imported by Teja, his bastard son, who also schemes to usurp his position.
Into this world arrives Sheru, a brooding stranger hired to work for the raja. As Sheru negotiates this wild land, he finds himself getting pulled into a deadly vortex of events that threaten to derail his destiny. But Sheru is a dangerous man with a dark past, and when he unleashes his fury, all hell breaks loose.

Rising Like a Storm

With King Lohar dead and a usurper queen in power, Gul and Cavas face a new tyrannical government that is bent on killing them both. Their roles in King Lohar’s death have not gone unnoticed, and the new queen is out for blood. What she doesn’t know is that Gul and Cavas have a connection that runs deeper than romance, and together, they just might have the strength and magic to end her for good.

Then a grave mistake ends with Cavas taken prisoner by the government. Gul must train an army of warriors alone. With alliances shifting and the thirst for vengeance growing, the fate of Ambar seems ever more uncertain. It will take every ounce of strength, love, and sacrifice for Gul and Cavas to reach their final goal?and build a more just world than they’ve ever known.

A Flight of Pigeons

Set in Shahjahanpur during the revolt of 1857, A Flight of Pigeons is Ruskin Bond’s classic novella about the twists of fate, history and the human heart. When Ruth Labadoor’s father, a clerk in the British magistrate’s office, is killed in an attack by sepoys, her family seeks refuge with their trusted companion, Lala Ramjimal. From here they eventually hope to escape to their relatives in Bareilly. But their plans go awry when Javed Khan, a fiery Pathan opposed to the British, abducts Ruth and her mother and takes them to his haveli. To their surprise, it is not hate that impels him in this time of war, but an almost crippling passion for Ruth. It will be months before the fall of Delhi to British troops brings them freedom-from fear, bafflement and despair, not only their own but also Javed Khan’s. Based on true events, this new classic edition of A Flight of Pigeons is a haunting story, rich in detail and drama, told with simplicity and deep humanity.

Three Rays

‘3 Rays is like exploring the Mother Earth, and finding the rare treasures’-Gulzar, poet, lyricist and film-maker

‘Satyajit Ray’s work is like a beautiful scene from nature, and that’s the reason we get lost in his beautiful art’ -Shoojit Sircar, film-maker

‘Ray’s magic, the simple poetry of his images and their emotional impact, will always stay with me’-Martin Scorsese, film director, producer, screenwriter and actor

‘Satyajit Ray’s artifice and honesty set him apart from other film directors’-The Guardian

‘Satyajit Ray’s world of restless watchfulness and nuance’-The New York Times

‘The quiet but deep observation … have impressed me greatly’-Akira Kurosawa, film-maker

The most anticipated book on the centenary birth anniversary of Satyajit Ray

An amazingly brilliant collection of Satyajit Ray’s previously unpublished autobiographical writings, illustrations, fictions and non-fictions

A collector’s item, 3 Rays is a source of delight for every reader

Satyajit Ray (1921-1992), through his life, philosophy and works offered a unique aesthetic sensibility, which took Indian cinema, art and literature to a new height. An ace designer, music composer, illustrator and a gifted writer, Ray gave us the awe-inspiring sleuth Feluda, and the maverick scientist, Professor Shonku-two iconic characters loved and revered by millions of readers.

On the occasion of his centenary birth anniversary, 3 Rays: Stories from Satyajit Ray, the first book in The Penguin Ray Library series, opens a window to the brilliance of this Renaissance man. With more than forty stories and poems along with many unpublished works, autobiographical writings and illustrations by Ray, this volume offers a unique glimpse into Ray’s creative genius.

Karya

On the third day after the death of Bangaravva, a solemn procession making its way towards the graveyard encounters a strange obstacle. A blast of wind rises up in revolt, the embers flare and the sacred ritual fire falls to the ground. The ceremony is ruined because custom demands that the ritual fire never touch the ground.

What follows is chaos and confusion. Who will bear the blame for things going awry, and how might they be set right? The division between castes and communities comes to the fore as the panchayat struggles to pronounce justice.

A poetic work calling for change in our casteist society, Karya unfurls a kaleidoscope of perspectives. Studded with symbols drawn from nature and myth, this small but significant novel unfurls the politics and power embedded within a Dalit community.

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