A tale of two traditional Sri Lankan families, one from the southern coastal belt and the other from the highlands.Two families bound by a single tragic occurrence which link their fates together.Two women whose storiesunfold like a game of chess.Kamalini, the White queen, born with a silver spoon to the upper echelons of society, possessing every material comfort but unlucky in finding true love.Mallika the Black queen, born into the lower classes of the...

Bhoomi ‘Mother Earth’ - a small town girl whose talent helps her rise aboveher circumstances.Deepani ‘Still waters’ - an innocent, sheltered teenager awakening to the pleasures of her body.Pavani ‘Blowing in the wind’ - a classic tale of a poor little rich girl.Three young girls whose paths cross in the mystical seaside town of Mandvi, soon joined by the fiery Magni and blazing Surya.The interwoven stories of these five women spans three generations, and covers ...

Finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction"The excellent strength [the novellas] share is a gracefulness and dreamlike sonority, reminiscent of writers like Jhumpa Lahiri and W.G. Sebald, wherein strange evolutions of solitary lives are the rule, and readers are held by the stately, hypnotic dignity of the voice that tells them." – San Francisco ChronicleSet in modern India, these three novellas move beyond the cities to places still haunted by the past, and to ...

Dervla Murphy and her five-year-old daughter Rachel- with little money, no taste for luxury and few concrete plans- meander slowly from Bombay to the southernmost tip of India. Interested in everything they see but only truly enchanted by people, they stay in fisherman's huts and no-star hotels, travelling in packed-out buses, on foot and by local boats. They double back to the place they liked most, the hill province of Coorg, and settle down to live there for two months. Here, anchored b...

‘Talk a little more’ is a collection of thirty short stories, so unique that you will not want to put the book down once you start reading.The story of the woman who became dumb when she saw her husband marry her little sister… the man who was stopped from committing suicide by divine intervention… the boy who was not afraid of snakes…the lady who did not wed the man she was engaged to and always rued it…stories such as these and others keep you intrigued till the end.The v...

"Since the death of Evelyn Waugh, Narayan is the novelist I most admire in the English language. His autobiography is worthy of his novels." —Graham Greene"I am inclined to call this the last chapter, but how can an autobiography have a final chapter? At best, it can only be a penultimate one; nor can it be given a rounded-off conclusion, as is possible in a work of fiction." So begins the last chapter of My Days, the only memoir from R. K. Narayan, hailed...

The future is here. India has just sent its first spacecraft to the moon, and the placid city of Mysore is gearing up for its own global recognition with the construction of HeritageLand - Asia's largest theme park. From behind the formidable gates of Mahalakshmi Gardens to the shanty houses on the edge of town, the people of Mysore are abuzz as they watch their city prepare for a complete transformation. Susheela, an elderly widow, is forced into a secretive new life. Uma, trying to escap...

First published in the "striking" collection, The Art of Disappearance , a novella about the the relationship between a writer and her translator ( New York Times ).Distraught by her own lack of accomplishment—especially in comparison to that of a childhood rival who has become a famous and successful publisher—a middle-aged woman has the opportunity of a lifetime: to translate t...

Sheila Dhar’s autobiographical stories, essays, and memoirs are classics of modern Indian prose. An accomplished singer, the world she inhabited included renowned north Indian classical musicians such as Begum Akhtar, Siddheshwari Bai, Fayyaz and Niaz Ahmed Khan, Kesar Bai Kerkar, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, and Bhimsen Joshi. No writer has ever conveyed the ethos of this world and the quirks of its denizens with such wit, irreverence, perceptiveness and empathy.Sheila Dhar’s writing straddles many...

(Soon to be a major motion picture: Hamaari Adhuri Kahaani) Raising a young child on her own, writing him letters pretending to be his absentee father, Vasudha Prasad has taught herself not to dream. A wealthy hotelier with no fixed address, Aarav Ruparel travels light, using ambition to shield himself from emotion. Neither is seeking love. And when it comes calling, it tests them both: Vasudha must accept that her marriage was a mistake, and Aarav must learn that sometimes loss is gain. '...

The Ramsays, India's first family of horror, are synonymous with the supernatural and gore. Through their films and series they introduced India to churails that floated across the screen, ghouls that woke up from eerie graveyards, and houses that buzzed with ghosts.But few knew that behind the production drama, elaborate sets, and haunting showtunes, there was a more sinister story. For the Ramsays, the supernatural wasn't just stuck to the screens and camera - it creeped into the...

'Babu Sahib! You must have heard of a phoolsunghi*--the flower-pecker--yes? It can never be held captive in a cage. It sucks nectar from a flower and then flies on to the next.'*When Dhelabai, the most popular tawaif of Muzaffarpur, slights Babu Haliwant Sahay, a powerful zamindar from Chappra, he resolves to build a cage that would trap her forever. Thus, the elusive phoolsunghi is trapped within the four walls of the Red Mansion.Forgetting the past, Dhelabai begi...