Catagory: Fiction

It is the 1970s. After a bloody struggle, Bangladesh is an independent nation. But thousands are pouring into Dhaka from all over the country, looking for food and shelter. Amongst them is Nur Hussain, an uneducated young man from a remote village, who is only good at mimicking a famous speech of the prime minister’s. He turns up at journalist Khaleque Biswas’s doorstep, seeking employment. He is initially a burden for Khaleque, but then Khaleque, who has recently lost his job, has the idea of turning Nur into a fake Sheikh Mujib. WIth the blessings of the political establishment, he starts chasing in on the nationalist frevour of the city’s poorest. But even as the money rolls in, the tension between the two men increases and reaches a violent climax when Nur refuses to stick to the script.
Intense yet chilling, this brilliant first novel is a meditation on power, greed and the human cost of the politics.

Ram Krishna is an artist who paints nudes. Incensed by his wife’s possible infidelity, and despite his own conjugal insecurities, he engages in an adulterous liaison. Immediately, Karma strikes: his wife’s purported lover pushes him to his death into a flooding river. Unclad of corporal existence, he hovers above earth and discovers that—apart from his parents, dog, and a few friends—no one misses him. Dejected, he encounters Yama, the Lord of Death, and begins a conversation that extinguishes his own airs and affectations, and makes him see that he may have been wrong about life . . . and his wife.

Armed with a wry sense of humour, Shiv K. Kumar lays bare the questions of humanity’s inescapable end, plying us with a story of the afterlife that gives us new reasons to live and laugh.

Long years ago, as India made its tryst with destiny and the soul of a nation long suppressed was torn asunder, a story of love and compassion ensued . . .

Sahitya Akademi awardee Shiv K. Kumar brings us a Partition novel that will delight readers with its fast-paced and humorous storytelling. Join Gautam Mehta as he converts to Christianity to divorce his wife, falls in love with a kidnapped Muslim beauty, and revels in adventures full of midnight swigs, enamelled snuffboxes, and quiet bouts of love-making. Join our stout-hearted, quick-witted protagonist as he hobnobs with the remaining Raj-era relics and, despite being hung-over, defeats the ruddy kidnappers of his romantic, timid little thing—his adversaries have not a whiff of a chance!

Shiv K. Kumar’s memorable novel takes you on a journey to the twilight of the Raj, to the pains of Partition, and to a love story that will heal the scars left in the wake of history.

Happy Birthday! is a celebration of the complex, mysterious inner lives of our fellow human beings, by the award-winning novelist Meghna Pant.

A dedicated friend undertakes one last labour of love for a childless woman. Nadia—married into money—finds herself facing uncomfortable truths about her comfortably numb marriage. A Mumbai slum-girl dreams of speaking words valuable enough to be translated into English. An American tourist seeking nirvana sets off a sudden chain of events when his bag is stolen, and destiny plays her hand. A retired civil servant of modest means struggles to support his snooty foreign-returned daughter.

Meghna Pant’s knife-sharp stories are compelling, emotionally intelligent and provide a rare glimpse into the strange workings of the human heart. They evade neat categorization, and are the perfect read for all curious spirits.

An American agent is shot in cold blood, in the sleepy town of Mussoorie. His killing is lIndia Inked to the deaths of two guards at a remote Indo-Tibetan Border Police outpost. Both the CIA and RAW respond immediately, sending highly trained undercover agents to investigate.
Colonel Afridi—who keeps an eagle eye on India’s high-altitude borders— notices signs of dangerous activity along frozen Himalayan frontiers, echoing the treacherous history of a mountain called Rataban. Then, even as the picturesque calm of the hill station erupts with brutal violence, Afridi and the two agents piece together a bloody conspiracy of revenge and murder that could shake the very foundations of peace in the world

Prince Rabi, the fiercely proud heir to the throne of Devapur, and Sophie, the headstrong daughter of the British Resident, have known each other from childhood. Growing up in a world fraught with political intrigue and divided loyalties, both were aware of the troubled alliance that existed between the British and the Indians-and of the boundary between them that they were forbidden to cross. But all this changes one night when, during the revelries of a village festival, the two find themselves passionately drawn to each other. Realizing what is at stake, the lovers dare to defy every rule of class and race-only to find themselves torn apart on the crossroads of desire and destiny.
Panoramic in its sweep and intimate in its portrayal of human relationships, The Golden Honeycomb is an epic love story set against the splendour and turbulence of the British Raj and the growing struggle for Indian independence.

The more I write, the more I revisit memory like this, putting pen to paper, ink to blood, the more the dots seem to connect, and the silences speak.’

Following her faux father’s suicide, Zephyr’s life unravels into a shapeless tapestry woven in the ethanol-hand of her grandfather, Don-an amoral, sensual, manipulative bastard who’s too clever for heaven and too deranged for hell. An alcoholic extraordinaire for whom the clock always struck quarter-past rum; for whom it was always just about the libidinous moment; a man with imperial swagger and disco-ball eyes; the super king of a vast empire of solitude, and permanent resident of his daughter’s wounded heart, Don’s actions shatter Zef’s past into fragments of warring memories. Armed with only her blade of tears, she carves her way through a quagmire of dark, atavistic forces.

A mother-daughter bond formed in the afterlife, memories stored in Ziploc bags, and the horrific struggle to piece together a past that’s been through the shredder-A Cool, Dark Place is all of these plus the unsettling realization that one’s life was ghost-written by two drunks.

Praise for Delhi Stopover: ‘There is never a dull moment in the book’ Femina
With a lead role in a Hindi film Lila feels she’s doing the right thing by coming back to Mumbai.
Little does she know that the industrywallahs—from the opinionated son of the director to the exploitative co-artistes around her; from the rumour-mongering media to her egotistical agents—are all going to try their best to spoil her dreams.
Crashing B-Town explores Lila’s struggles through a highly passionate and glamorous, but also notoriously shady, Hindi film industry.