Something strange is afoot in the kingdom of Pür.
The most favoured suitor at Princess Vasundhara’s swayamvara has disappeared …
A reclusive sorceress has emerged from the Eastern Isles …
The Inter-Realm Ambassador is furious …
A long-lost stone with dark powers must be found …
The Sprites are preparing for rebellion …
When dignitaries from all the Mortal Realms-and a few from the Inter-Realm-gather in Rajgir for a stressful swayamvara, only mayhem can ensue! Can Meenakshi and Kalban uncover Tara the Starchaser’s dark legacy and prevent a war between the Realms?
Book III in the Meandering Magicians series
When the dead body of a famous fund manager, Anant Kapoor, is found in his house, it isn’t hard for the police to pin the murder on his wife. She has no alibi, and she is the direct beneficiary of his death. But when the police look deeper, they discover two more suspects just as likely to commit the crime.
With no sound motive and contradictory statements from the three suspects, the police must dig deeper into their history, and what they find is rather chilling and perplexing at the same time.
Who killed Anant, and more importantly, why?
‘I could hear wild animals, as hungry as I was, growling down below, having caught my human smell. They attempted to scale the rocks. If there was one among them that could climb the cliff, my helplessness would turn me into its dinner tonight.’
On the eve of Independence Day, Mahesh reads a small news item about a mysterious forest dweller who appeared in the middle of a rainforest out of nowhere and disappeared without a clue. Immediately, he recognizes the man to be Freddie Robert, their friend, guide, leader and the one they had all named Yudhisthira, who had disappeared into the forest several months ago, in search of a rare new bird. Mahesh and his four friends, each named after a Pandava brother, and Panchali, or Meera, decide that the only way they can ascertain whether the man was indeed Freddie is to return to the forest and search for him.
Thus begins Dattapaharam, a powerhouse of a novel by the critically acclaimed and bestselling Malayalam author V.J. James. A rumination on solitude, man’s connection with nature and the strings that attach us to this world, this is a surreal novel where the author’s imagination soars like an eagle and words flow like the untouched springs in a rainforest. At times a fable on the modern world, at times a search for identity amid a quest of discovery, and on the whole a moving tale that takes the reader deep into the forests to understand what really makes us human, Dattapaharam is a powerful novel for our anthropocentric age, written by one of the most exciting voices to emerge from the Indian subcontinent.
Prerna, a woman now in her fifties, has been running an Indian restaurant in downtown Manhattan for two decades. She is on the cusp of a midlife crisis, and her life indeed unravels when she suddenly loses her son, her lease, and with these, her passion for cooking as well. Caught in the grip of newly awakened emotions, Prerna finds herself confronted by many haunting questions from her past, which take her back to her motherland, India. And so begins an intensely personal struggle that will lead Prerna to forgive herself, escape her past and rediscover her true passion for cooking.
This novel is a celebration of life as well as an immigrant’s story of survival, forgiveness and moving on.
The epic tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, only to be consumed by it over the centuries – from the transcendent imagination of Booker Prize-winning, internationally bestselling author Salman Rushdie.
In the wake of an insignificant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for the Goddess, who begins to speak out of the girl’s mouth. Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana’s comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga – literally ‘victory city’ -the wonder of the world.
Over the next two hundred and fifty years, Pampa Kampana’s life becomes deeply interwoven with Bisnaga’s, from its literal sowing out of a bag of magic seeds to its tragic ruination in the most human of ways: the hubris of those in power. Whispering Bisnaga and its citizens into existence, Pampa Kampana attempts to make good on the task that the Goddess set for her: to give women equal agency in a patriarchal world. But all stories have a way of getting away from their creator, and Bisnaga is no exception. As years pass, rulers come and go, battles are won and lost, and allegiances shift, the very fabric of Bisnaga becomes an ever more complex tapestry – with Pampa Kampana at its centre.
Brilliantly styled as a translation of an ancient epic, this is a saga of love, adventure and myth that is in itself a testament to the power of storytelling.
Dr. Oliver Harding is long settled into the routines of a divorced, aging academic. But his quiet life is upended by his new colleague, Ruhaba Khan, a dynamic Pakistani law professor.
Ruhaba unexpectedly ignites Oliver’s long-dormant passions, a secret desire that quickly tips towards obsession after her teenaged nephew arrives to stay with her. Drawn to them, Oliver tries to reconcile his discomfort with the worlds from which they come, and to quiet his sense of dismay at the encroaching change they represent-both metaphorically and in Ruhaba’s spirited engagement with the student movements on campus.
After protests break out demanding diversity across the university, Oliver finds himself and his beliefs under fire, even as his past reveals a picture more complicated than it seems. As Ruhaba seems to fade in and out of reach, Oliver reacts in ways shocking and devastating.
Sonora Jha has created a complex character both in tune and out of step with our time, an erudite man who first inspires and then challenges our sympathies. As the novel reaches its shocking conclusion, Jha compels us to re-examine scenes in a new light, revealing a depth of loneliness in unlikely places, the subjectivity of innocence, and the looming peril of white rage in America.
An explosive and tense work of fiction, The Laughter is a fascinating portrait of privilege, radicalization, class, and modern academia that forces us to confront the assumptions we make, as both readers and as citizens.
Satyajit Ray (1921-1991), polymath, polyglot, novelist, short-story writer, illustrator, designer, music composer, was one of the most eminent film directors of world cinema. His Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road, 1955) established his position as a major film director, winning numerous awards. Recipient of the Lifetime Academy Award in 1992 ‘In recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures and for his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world’, Ray took Indian cinema to a grand platform hitherto unachieved by any Indian film director. “Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means,’ said Akira Kurosawa, ‘existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.’
While Ray’s films are fairly well-known, his writings-fiction and non-fiction-written in Bengali and English continue to attract attention. His illustrations, design works, comic strips, science fictions, detective stories are gems of Indian literature. Ray’s non-fictions are gems, which bring to lights his thoughts on film-making, film appreciation, composition of music, art, design and screenplay, among others. ‘The Penguin Ray Library’ is an endeavour to open a window to the master’s writings to a wide spectrum of readers.
From the ever-popular adventures of Ray’s enduring creation, the professional sleuth Feluda to the chronicles of Professor Shonku; short stories; writings on filmmaking; and thoughts on world as well as Indian cinema, among others, this anthology, a two-volume boxset, The Best of Satyajit Ray is not only a treat for the Ray enthusiasts but also a collector’s edition.
In the distant land of Gandhara, there once was a janapada called Chakrapuri. Its elders were a worried lot. Their children were uninterested in the welfare and upkeep of the janapada. Most of them were consumed by self-interest and avarice, seeking personal gains, even at the cost of their fellow citizens. Realizing that the young must learn the arts and crafts of citizenship, the Sabha of Chakrapuri decided to employ Nitina of Takshashila, whose wisdom was said to be unparalleled, to teach their children. So it came to pass that the unconventional scholar was entrusted with the charge of these boys and girls for the next ninety days.
Thus begins the Nitopadesha. A labyrinth of stories in the style of the Panchatantra and the Jataka tales, this is a book about good citizenship and citizen-craft that will speak to the modern reader. Covering aspects such as what citizenship means, the ethical dilemmas one faces as a citizen and how one can deal with social issues, Nitin Pai’s absorbing translation is an essential read for conscientious citizens of all ages.
Naishee Kamaraj has a special bond with her younger brother, Shravan. One day when he suddenly goes missing, everyone tells her perhaps he left of his own volition, but Naishee knew her brother better than anyone else. She fears there has been foul play. And her fears come true when she receives a second-hand phone with a video of her brother being held captive. She needs to perform some horrific activities to save her brother. As time ticks by, Naishee knows she will come out a totally different being by the end of it all . . .
Among the rulers of Jaipur, Maharaja Sawai Jagat’s name is taken with contempt, because of his affair with a tawaif, or courtesan, Raskapoor, the daughter of a Muslim mother and a Brahmin father. The Maharaja defied all norms and bestowed upon her the title of ‘Half Empress’. With little experience, Raskapoor resiliently navigated her way through the cobwebs of the royal life. But, pitched against a fleet of plotters in an atmosphere filled with deceit, she finally fell into their trap and was imprisoned. There are many stories about how her life ended-the compassionate prison chief allowed her to flee or she flung herself on to the pyre of Jagat Singh. But today, she is best remembered by the guides who routinely mention her as a celebrity prisoner at the famous Nahargarh Fort.
In her historical novel The Half Empress, Tripti Pandey transports the reader to the royal corridors of nineteenth-century Jaipur and brings to life the story of a formidable woman who has been deliberately omitted from history.
