Susanna S Granthapura

Why does the usually aloof and reticent Paul suddenly want to meet Ali after Susanna's death? Why does the possibility of an unfinished manuscript by a longforgotten writer fascinate Ali and Abhi to the extent that they undertake a journey to Marayoor, a town deep in the heart of Kerala to meet the unknown Susanna? First published in Malayalam in 2019, Susanna's Granthapura is Ajai Mangattu's uniquely crafted novel that celebrates the strong bonds that form between people who share a love of reading and of books.

Why does the usually aloof and reticent Paul suddenly want to meet Ali after Susanna's death? Why does the possibility of an unfinished manuscript by a long-forgotten writer fascinate Ali and Abhi to the extent that they undertake a journey to Marayoor, a town deep in the heart of Kerala to meet the unknown Susanna? First published in Malayalam in 2019, Susanna's Granthapura is Ajai Mangattu's uniquely crafted novel that celebrates the strong bonds that form between people who share a love of reading and of books.

Was the first man you fell for a brooding desert prince? Or better still, a cruellyhandsome feudal lord? Are you a spirited beauty, your fire contained-but only just-by theclinging brocade of your lehenga s choli? A delicious Kama Kahani is sure to strike your fancy.Dazzling Shameena runs wild in the nawab s palace in Lucknow until her weak-willed father promisesher to Nicholas Winthrop, the richest Englishman in the subcontinent. Furious about the alliance, sherebels and flees her father s home, disguised as a courtesan. But when Asef, the thrillingly mysteriousbodyguard of Nicholas, is dispatched to bring her back, Shameena finds herself caught in a dangerousgame, between East and West, fire and ice&

Originally written in 1942 by Mohonlal Gangopadhyay, Charanik beautifully captures the trials and travails of the author and his friend Mirek while trekking through pre-World War II Czechoslovakia, when it was still independent and posed no problems of entering or leaving the country. The duo set out on an adventure of a lifetime, walking through the tranquil and beautiful Czechoslovak countryside. As they cross villages and small towns, and climb hills and valleys, they discover the sheer joy of walking. Meeting strangers and making new friends on the way, they realize that sometimes you have to lose your way to find yourself. Charanik has been translated by Jayanta Sengupta, who had earlier translated Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's Chander Pahar, published as The Mountain of the Moon. Describes in a clear lucid manner the stunning European countryside. Originally written in Bengali and then translated into English. Highlights the sheer joy of walking.

The House Next to the Factory shows a changing India over three decades through the lens of one family and the house that they live in. Life in the house is humdrum and confining, but on a rare evening out, Kavya sets off in search of a nun; a beloved teacher is caught in the aftermath of the anti-Sikh riots; a loyal servant worries over his relationship with a low caste woman; while in England, an aunt reads William Trevor and pines for all that she has left behind. Over the years, the family's steel utensil business blossoms, and amid the clanging of metal and the churning of machines, the household transitions from bourgeois to elite. Yet at thirty, Kavya finds herself in Paris, hoping to get past the sorrows of her young life... Delicate and finely textured, Sonal Kohli's extraordinary debut lays bare the complexities of class and culture and the difficulties as well as excitements of change, even as it evokes loves and triumphs, the pull of incongruous desires and the tragedies of everyday life.

Our Sri Lankan narrator visits his friend Joe in Italy, where Joe attends a special course—in higher (or, shall we say, lower) studies in women. Italians—much like Sri Lankans—live at home through marriage, death, and sometimes even beyond the pale. An accompanying string of fake fiancés and phoney engagements are the backdrop to this delightful collection of darkly humorous tales about Sri Lankans at home and abroad. Long years and many miles away, Colombo’s Father Cruz attempts to rescue a church from parishioners who like to put their donations where others can see them—on large plaques; on the coast, a retired Admiral escapes the tsunami on an antique Dutch cabinet; two childhood sweethearts, in time-honoured Sri Lankan tradition, are married off to strangers. Ashok Ferrey writes about Sri Lanka and its people, wherever they roam, with remarkable acuity. He writes of the West’s effect on Sri Lankans, of its ‘turning them into caricatures, unmistakably genuine but not at all the real thing’. In The Good Little Ceylonese Girl, his second collection of stories, he shows us the reality beyond those feeble sketches, in its full glory.

Thirty-four-year-old Ladoo, a simple middle-class divorcée from Rishikesh, wants only one thing from life--a baby. She eats gondh halwa, drinks badam milk, and takes folic acid, to stop her ticking biological clock and become the world's most fertile woman. When an accidental meeting with a gynaecologist reveals that her 'eggs are drying up' and finding a sperm donor is her last chance of having a child, Ladoo races against time to find the right baby daddy, whose kundali matches her, while addressing her own mixed feelings about whether Mr Right Donor can also be Mr Right. Along the way, Ladoo must figure out whether motherhood means marriage, whether being a single mother means loneliness, whether 'my body, my rules' applies to women, and whether doing something scandalous is outrageous or courageous.