"This omnibus brings together a range of his short stories, a genre he pioneered in Hindi literature, and two of his women-centric novels. Also included is an essay by Premchand on the aim of literature, translated especially for this volume. Francesca Orsini introduces readers …
The fact is, both sides killed. Both shot and stabbed and speared and clubbed. Both tortured. Both raped. It is the summer of 1947. But Partition does not mean much to the Sikhs and Muslims of Mano Majra, a village on the border of India and Pakistan. Then, a local monylender is…
"A transfixing novel about two unforgettable characters seeking to free themselves--one from the expectations of women in early 20th century Punjab, and the other from the weight of life in the contemporary Indian diaspora. Mehar, a young bride in rural 1929 Punjab, is trying to…
A venerable tiger, old and toothless now, looks back over his life from cubhood and early days roaming wild in the Indian jungle. Trapped into a miserable circus career as 'Raja the magnificent', he is then sold into films (co-starring with a beefy Tarzan in a leopard skin) unti…
When she returns to India after seven years, Priya Rao, 27, faces the harsh reality of prejudice and culture clash. Besides religion, caste, and financial status, there is the matter of skin color. Lighter is better, and Priya is considered "dark." Hyderabad seems hotter and dir…
Written while Tagore was managing his family's estates in the riverlands of Bengal in the 1890s, the thirty stories in this volume represent a wonderfully fruitful period in the life of this grear writer. Here he reflects on the cruel realities he saw around him, from child-marr…
The range and variety of Anand's short stories are not only in mood, tone and spirit but also in locale, characters and form. The setting ranges from the Punjab (as in The Parrot in the Cage) to Uttar Pradesh (as in The Price of Bananas) and Kashmir (as in Kashmir Idyll). Both t…
"In The Pool in the Desert, first published in 1903, Sara Jeannette Duncan explores the impact of isolation on the small British communities of Victorian India. In the four stories collected here - "The Pool in the Desert," "A Mother in India," "An Impossible Ideal," and "The He…
"In The Pool in the Desert, first published in 1903, Sara Jeannette Duncan explores the impact of isolation on the small British communities of Victorian India. In the four stories collected here - "The Pool in the Desert," "A Mother in India," "An Impossible Ideal," and "The He…