She stopped. Standing close to the broad edging of the flower beds, she bent over like a bow…Whenever she comes to Rangoli and sees the rare specimens of cacti peeping out from between the arrangement of rocks placed by the main entrance, she is transfixed. In fact she is tempted to pilfer one, hide it in her purse quickly before the doorman, standing there rigidly like a mannequin in a shop window, catches her.—from this book

In Indus ancestral home, that she had escaped from so many years ago, nothing seems to have altered. Yet all is different. Akka, the rich family tyrant, is dead and the family is on the threshold of great change. And the key to their future now lies in Indus hands. This novel provides a penetrative insight into the joint family revealing its strengths and weaknesses, its props and parasites.

This is the first collection of translations in English of stories originally written in Malayalam by Kamala Das under the pen name Madhavi Kutty. They amply demonstrate Kamala Dass special contribution to the short story in Malayalam. All the major attributes of her writing are evident: her subtlety and power in dealing with human relationships and intrigues of love, life and death and her earthiness, sensuousness and sensuality.

Kuttiedathi and Other Stories is a careful collection of ten short stories. This collection brings together some of the most well known stories of M T Vasudevan Nair, fairly representative of his literary works. Written over a broad span of time from 1962 to 2000, the stories collected here reflect the built-in variety of his fictional concerns and the changing tones of his narration. M T Vasudevan Nair is a renowned Malayalam author and winner of the Jnanpith award for literature (1995). He...

A pioneering collection describing and dramatizing the Nepalese diaspora - the displacement and exile of the Nepali-speaking world*SHORTLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE*A disfigured servant girl plans to flee Nepal; a Kalimpong shopkeeper faces an impossible dilemma; a Hindu religious festival in Darjeeling brings with it a sacrifice; a Nepali-Bhutanese refugee pins her hopes on the West; a Gurkha's daughter tries to comprehend her father'...

"A remarkable whodunit that’s as sharp as it is concise." - Kirkus ReviewsOn a drizzly August morning, the inhabitants of the hill town of Sanover, Himachal Pradesh, wake up to the shocking news of the murder of the exquisite, secretive, malicious, and thoroughly immoral Devika Singh.As Superintendent of Police Vishwanath Sharma begins to sift through the hidden secrets of Devika Singh’s life, it becomes evident that everyone who knew her seems to have a clear-cut ...

Khushwant Singh, the country's foremost literary figure, serves up another volume of the finest fiction from across India. 'A good read . . . engaging . . . The names live up to their reputation.' - India Today 'Tremendous richness of characters on display.' - Deccan Herald 'Offers much . . . to the discriminating reader.' - Deccan Chronicle 'An eminently readable book . . . The range of geographical areas and social backgrounds that this selection represents are truly vast.' - The Tribune...

An anthology of short stories that master film-maker Satyajit Ray adapted into films.A rich zamindar has a dream that his daughter-in-law is an incarnation of Kali; a clerk's life turns upside down when he stumbles upon a magical stone which can turn any base metal into gold; a housewife steps out of her lowermiddle-class household into the big city to work as a salesgirl,and is awestruck by its labyrinthine ways; blessed with three magical boons from the king of ghosts, Goopy and Bagha fi...

This is the story of Nataraj, who earns his living as a printer in the little world of Malgudi, an imaginary town in South India. Nataraj and his close friends, a poet and a journalist, find their congenia l days disturbed when Vasu, a powerful taxidermist, moves in with his stuffed hyenas and pythons, and brings his dancing-women up the printer's private stairs. When Vasu, in search of larger game, threatens the life of a temple elephant that Natara j has befriended, complications ensue t...

Set around the time of Partition and written with absorbing intelligence and sympathy, Difficult Daughters is the story of a young woman torn between the desire for education and the lure of illicit love.' Difficult Daughters is intensely imagined, fluidly written, moving. Through our struggles with our parents, it flings us into their own momentous times, their youthful yearnings for love and independence and life. And so it becomes an urgent and ...

'Soseki is the representative modern Japanese novelist, a figure of truly national stature' Haruki Murakami'A sensitive, skilfully written novel by the most widely read Japanese author of modern times'Guardian'Soseki's prose is so delicate that each page is like looking at a set of dreamy watercolours'TelegraphHumble clerk Sosuke and his wife Oyone live in a modest house at the bottom of a cliff. O...

Through the Ages, women the world over, have lived under subjugation; women in India have been subjected to various atrocities as well. Nonetheless, despite the odds stacked against them, many have become shining examples for others to follow; not for them the phrase: Frailty thy name is woman.So it is with the characters, whose stories appear on the pages of this book. Their names may be ordinary, but their show of resilience is extraordinary.Kavita, Pushpa, Poonam, Deepa,...