A woman who has left two husbands announces she will celebrate her 55th birthday by holding a swayamvar. Drawn from an ancient custom in her Indian culture, this is an event in which suitors line up to compete in a feat of wills and strength to win a beautiful princess’s hand in marriage. The woman, a renowned and respected intellectual in an American town who had once declared she was “past such petty matters as love,” knows she is now setting herself up for widespread societal ridicule, but her self-esteem and sexual libido are off the charts even as her body withers from disability, fading beauty, and her appetite for cake.
To her surprise, a cast of characters shows up to support her call—a wedding planner looking for the next enchanting thing, a disability rights activist making a documentary film, and even, begrudgingly, her own young adult son. The Men’s Rights Movement protests her project, angry at her objectification of men. She is waylaid by visitations from goddesses and princesses past, who either try to slap sense into her or cheer her on. She must also reckon with a brutal love story in her ancestry that was endangered by the caste system—a story that placed a generational curse on those in the family who show an intemperance of spirit. As her whole plan spirals into a spectacle, the woman embarks on a journey to decide what feat her suitor must perform to be worthy of her wrinkling hand. What feat will define a newer, better masculinity? What feat will it take for her to trust in the tenderness of love?
Intemperance is at once a satirical feminist folktale and a meditation on how we might reach past all sense and still find love.
टोक्यो की सबसे समझदार लाइब्रेरियन पूछती हैं।
सायूरी कोमाची अपनी लाइब्रेरी में आने वाले हर व्यक्ति की ज़रुरतों को भाँप लेती हैं कि उसे क्या चाहिए और फिर उसे वह किताब लाकर दे देती हैं, जिससे उसकी तलाश पूरी हो सके।
परेशान-सा एक रिटेल असिस्टेंट कुछ नया सीखना चाहता है, एक माँ मातृत्व अवकाश के बाद पदावनति से उबरने की कोशिश करती है, एक कर्तव्यनिष्ठ लेखाकार प्राचीन वस्तुओं की दुकान खोलने की इच्छा रखता है, हाल ही में रिटायर हुआ आदमी कुछ और नया करना चाहता है।
कोमाची द्वारा बताई गई शानदार किताबों में इन सब को वह मिलने वाला है; जिसकी मदद से वे अपने सपने पूरे कर पाएँगे और अपने लक्ष्य तक पहुँच सकेंगे।<brलाइब्रेरी में वह सबकुछ है, जिसकी आपको तलाश है! दरअसल लाइब्रेरी के जादू और संपर्कों की खोज के बारे में लिखा गया यह एक शानदार उपन्यास है। प्रेरणा से भरी इसकी कहानी पढ़कर हम यह जान पाते हैं कि कैसे, अपने दिल की बात सुनकर, अवसर का लाभ उठाकर और आगे बढ़कर, हम भी अपने जीवन भर के सपनों को पूरा कर सकते हैं।
आप किस किताब को पढ़ने की सलाह देंगे?
गोरखनाथ संप्रदाय के योगी प्रेम की लोककथाओं को सारंगी की धुन पर गाते थे और घर-घर जाकर भिक्षा माँगते थे। ये कहानियाँ पीढ़ी दर पीढ़ी लोकगीतों के रूप में सुनाई जाती थीं। समय के साथ इन कथाओं ने लोक-साहित्यकारों, रंगमंच कलाकारों और नौटंकियों को प्रेरित किया है, जो इन्हें मेलों, धार्मिक आयोजनों और अन्य समारोह में प्रस्तुत करते आए हैं।
Step into a world where secrets fester, grief turns deadly, and the line between reality and the supernatural blurs.
In That Night, four inseparable friends carry the weight of a deadly secret from their college days—until someone, or something, begins to unravel their pact of silence.
In I Hear You, a mother trapped in a failing marriage discovers that her unborn child is no ordinary baby—but a creation with powers that could either save her or destroy everything she holds dear.
And in The Drowning, an unspeakable tragedy pulls a grieving mother and a haunted investigator into a chilling descent where black magic, murder, and malevolent forces collide.
Dark, twisted, and utterly addictive, this boxset brings together three bestselling novels that will keep you awake long into the night.
Heartbreak, healing, and a dash of revenge come together in this soul-searching, spice-filled journey through India from beloved author Arielle Ford.
When chef Holly’s carefully built life unravels—first through a painful betrayal, then a near-fatal accident—she’s left reeling, uncertain of everything she once believed in, including love.
Reluctantly making her way to India, Holly hopes only for quiet and a little distance from her pain. But what she finds is something else entirely: unexpected moments of insight, unlikely friendships, and the stirring return of her own strength. As she slowly pieces herself back together—with the help of wise teachers, memorable meals, and a dash of poetic justice—Holly begins to glimpse a life richer than the one she lost.
Inspired by true events, The Love Thief is a page-turning ride through heartbreak, healing, and unexpected transformation. With surprise twists, a juicy revenge subplot, and irresistible recipes—from killer Masala Chai to paneer-stuffed cheeseburgers—this novel is a feast for the senses and the spirit.
Perfect for romantics, seekers, and food lovers alike, The Love Thief is Arielle Ford at her boldest, funniest, and most inspiring—ideal for fans of Alka Joshi, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Christina Lauren.
‘A stunning novel, gorgeously written’ Kamila Shamsie
‘Intelligent, keenly observed’ Times Literary Supplement
‘Beautifully rendered’ Telegraph
‘Excellent’ Irish Times
‘Tender yet piercing’ Dua Lipa’s Service 95
‘A gentle, exquisite portrait’ Daily Mail
In the misty mountains of Darjeeling, a landslide entraps the guests and staff of a dilapidated hotel. Cooped up inside, two men exchange lingering glances. For carefree Neville, this is one of many exhilarating encounters, stolen kisses in stairways and parked cars. But for Pavan, an employee desperate to avoid detection, their entanglement prises open his carefully contained and solitary existence with unforgettable consequences.
Four years later, their paths cross again amidst the towering skyscrapers and ghostly smog of Mumbai. Pavan has fled the hills, burying all memories of their encounter, while Neville is now a flailing graduate, craving something more than the naked torsos blowing up his phone. When he glimpses Pavan working behind the reception of a luxurious hotel, he demands a meeting, pursuing him with mischief and menace as the secrets of their time together threaten to tumble into the light.
Set on the brink of India’s ruling to decriminalise homosexuality, this is a tender, richly atmospheric and elegantly wry story of outlawed desire and the hope of a life beyond concealment.
In a world where shadows conceal the truth and power is the ultimate prize, Amitabh Mehta, India’s resolute chief of intelligence, stands firm against corruption and terror.
Haunted by the legacy of the IC 814 hijacking, Amitabh has tirelessly safeguarded his nation through decades of combating terrorism, from the Khalistan movement to the serial bombings in Bombay and relentless attacks in Kashmir. Frustrated by indecisive politicians, he finds hope in a new prime minister—a charismatic strongman from Maharashtra with unprecedented public support.
As an Indian Air Force base is attacked, Amitabh proposes a bold solution: kill India’s enemies wherever they are. With the prime minister’s sanction, Amitabh spearheads a covert assassination programme, targeting high-priority enemies across the globe. However, a failed attempt on one of India’s most wanted terrorists reveals a mole within the government, leading to a frantic operation to capture the elusive terrorist. In their pursuit, they uncover a hidden power undermining India from within. Can this clandestine force be dismantled?
Jami is the Gigolo King of Kalkatta. Smuggled into India from Bangladesh and given refuge by his uncle, a leader of the ruling Communist Party, he grows up in Zakaria Street—a Little Baghdad of the old—dreaming of becoming a pukka Kalkatta-wallah. When friendship with a local gang disqualifies him from school, he ends up as assistant to a passport forger, and then a masseur. Soon enough, innocent massage leads to ‘plus plus treatments’, and Kalkatta opens its doors, drawing Jami into the world of the rich and famous, housewives, tourists and travelling executives, and occasionally to high-paying and dangerous ‘parties’. Danger looms, too, from rivals and the police, and the ever-present risk of losing his cover. Jami’s shadowy double life takes a turn for the unexpected when he meets Pablo, a young boy who suffers from leukemia, and his single mother Mandira. Made to oscillate between his refugee family, the neighbourhood gang, his massage-parlour clients, even the cultured world of Bengali intellectuals inhabited by Mandira, he succeeds in becoming a true Kalkatta-wallah, but a stranger to himself. Until his love for Pablo threatens to destroy everything, and drive him away even from his beloved Kalkatta.
‘It’s an improbable and hauntingly beautiful love story, almost surreal in its innocence. And I immediately knew that this was the film I had to make.’ – Aparna Sen
An Indian man writes to a Japanese woman. She writes back. The pen-friends fall in love and exchange their vows over letters, then live as man and wife without ever setting eyes on each other – their intimacy of words tested finally by life’s miraculous upheavals.The twelve stories in this collection are about the unexpected. An American professor visits India with the purpose of committing suicide, and goes on a desert journey with the daughter of a snakecharmer. A honeymooning Indian couple is caught up in the Tiananmen Square unrest. A Russian prostitute discovers her roots in the company of Calcutta revolutionaries. A holocaust victim stands tall among strangers in a landscape of hate. These are chronicles of memory and dreams born at the crossroads of civilizations. They parade a cast of angels and demons rubbing shoulders with those whose lives are never quite as ordinary as they seem
“What if we dared to read the pages of our mothers’ forgotten stories? What might we learn if we saw them not as the silent anchors of our homes, but as individuals shaped by desire, heartbreak, and the hope of second chances?”
Sarika and her son Jittu’s life changes as the new neighbors move in. Gitanjali, their young neighbor soon strikes a chord with Sarika, only to realise she is the daughter of Abhiram Naidu, her long-lost love. Sarika’s past flashes in front of her. It was in early college that Sarika and Abhiram met and fell in love. They would plan their great escapades and professed love until circumstances forced them apart. Sarika eventually married Nandagopal and Ram, Poojitha. Years later Gitanjali comes across her mother’s diary to find the riveting love story of Ram and Sarika. As life finds Ram and Sarika at a crossroad once again, will they dare to embrace this second chance at love, or will the shadows of their past keep them apart?
An elegy for the unspoken lives, Amma’s diary is a rediscovery of a long-lost love story. It becomes a chronicle of time and memory inherited by the weight of choices made and unmade. It is a novel that speaks to the ache of things unsaid, and the healing that comes when old silences are finally broken.
