{"title":"Biographical Fiction","description":"\u003cp\u003eExplore fiction inspired by real lives, historical figures, and personal journeys. These works blend imagination with biographical elements to bring notable lives and experiences into compelling fictional narratives.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"13047-literary-occasions-v-s-naipaul","title":"Literary Occasions - V S Naipaul","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor: V S Naipaul\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Picador India\u003cbr\u003eYear: 2003\u003cbr\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003ePages: 203\u003cbr\u003eISBN\/UPC (if available): 0330420240\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Description\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom a master of the English language-winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature-a collection of essays about reading, writing and identity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn these eleven extended pieces-brought together for the first time-Naipaul charts more than half a century of personal enquiry into the mysteries of written expression and of fiction in particulars. Here are his boyhood experiences of reading books and his first youthful efforts at writing them; the early glimmers and the evolution of ideas about the proper relation of particular literary forms to particular cultures and identities. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere, too, are Naipaul’s observations on his putative literary forebear, Conrad, and the moving preface he wrote to the only book his father ever published. And in his celebrated Nobel lecture, Two Worlds, Naipaul reflects on the full scope of his career, rounding off the volume as an intellectual autobiography. A remarkable companion piece to his previous volume of highly acclaimed essays, The Writer and the World, and sustained by extraordinary powers of expression and thought, Literary Occasion is a stirring contribution to the fading art of the critic, and a revelation as well of a life in letters, in its many exemplary instances.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eContents\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePrologue: Reading and Writing, a Personal Account\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePART ONE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEast Indian\u003cbr\u003eJasmine\u003cbr\u003ePrologue to an Autobiography\u003cbr\u003eForeword to The Adventures of Gurudeva\u003cbr\u003eForeword to A House for Mr Biswas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePART TWO\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIndian Autobiographies\u003cbr\u003eThe Last of the Aryans\u003cbr\u003eTheatrical Natives\u003cbr\u003eConrad’s Darkness and Mine\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePostscript: Two Worlds (The Nobel Lecture)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The India Club","offers":[{"title":"V S Naipaul \/ Picador India \/ Paperback","offer_id":40776294891689,"sku":"13047","price":32.9,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0582\/1048\/4393\/products\/13047_95d4226e-93ae-4de6-b3bf-40e45e7406e0.jpg?v=1625524484"},{"product_id":"1626-leaves-of-life","title":"Leaves of Life","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Jayawant Dalvi\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Orient Longman\/Disha\u003cbr\u003eYear: 1998\u003cbr\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003ePages: 196\u003cbr\u003eISBN\/UPC (if available): 8125015914\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Description\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFiction based on biographical memoirs, this book captures a bygone era of feudal loyalties in a small konkani village, where religion had not been reduced to an observance of rituals and when birth determined day-to-day privileges as well as degradations.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The India Club","offers":[{"title":"Jayawant Dalvi \/ Orient Longman\/Disha \/ Paperback","offer_id":40776358658217,"sku":"1626","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0582\/1048\/4393\/products\/1386_15317737-de1e-4939-9839-6f059558a1e0.jpg?v=1625496198"},{"product_id":"17088-two-lives","title":"Two Lives","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Vikram Seth\u003cbr\u003e\/\u003cbr\u003e: \u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Penguin\/Viking\u003cbr\u003eYear: 2005\u003cbr\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003ePages: 503\u003cbr\u003eISBN\/UPC (if available): 067005836X\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Description\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVikram Seth’s captivating new book is the story of a century and of a love affair across a racial divide. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShanti Behari Seth was born on the eighth day of the eighth month in the eighth year of the twentieth century; he died two years before its close. He was brought up in India in the late years of the Raj, and was sent by his family in the 1930s to Berlin-though he could not speak a word of German-to study medicine and dentistry. It was here, before he migrated to Britain, that Shanti’s path first crossed that of his future wife. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHenny Gerda Caro was also born in 1908, in Berlin, to a Jewish family, cultured, patriotic and intensely German. When the family decided to have Shanti as a lodger, Henny’s first reaction was, ‘Don’t take the black man!’ But a friendship flowered, and when Henny fled Hitler’s Germany for England, just one month before the war broke out, she was met at Victoria Station by the only person she knew in the country: Shanti. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVikram Seth has woven together their astonishing story: the war that took Shanti to North Africa, the Middle East and the battle of Monte Cassino, where his right arm was blown off; the persecution that saw Henny desperately searching for news of the mother and sister she had left behind; the love that sparked their marriage in 1951; the courage that inspired Shanti to defy his injury and set up once again in his profession; the arrival into this childless couple’s lives of their great-nephew from India-the teenage student, Vikram Seth. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe result is an extraordinary tapestry of India, the Third Reich and the Second World War, Auschwitz and the Holocaust, Israel and Palestine, postwar Germany and 1970s Britain. Two Lives is both a history of a violent country seen through the eyes of two survivors as well as an intimate portrait of their friendship, marriage and abiding yet complex love. Part biography, part memoir, part meditation on our times, this is the true tale of two remarkable lives-a masterful telling from one of our greatest living writers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eContents\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The India Club","offers":[{"title":"Vikram Seth \/ Penguin\/Viking \/ Hardcover","offer_id":40776374157481,"sku":"17088","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0582\/1048\/4393\/products\/17088_4efddf0d-a873-4447-b247-124a747006ba.jpg?v=1625569379"},{"product_id":"24334-book-of-humour","title":"Book of Humour","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Ruskin Bond\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Penguin\u003cbr\u003eYear: 2008\u003cbr\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003ePages: 278\u003cbr\u003eISBN\/UPC (if available): 014306343X\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Description\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarked by the signature charm and subtle wit of one of India's best loved writers, Ruskin Bond's Book of Humour will make even the hardened among us crack a smile.  A delectable offering from a writer who not only knows how to make us laugh but also knows how to laugh at himself. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePlayful tigers, ghosts, elephants, crows and old favorites like Uncle Ken, Miss Bun, the author's slightly eccentric grandfather and Bond himself weave in and out of the pages of this wildly eclectic, thoroughly delightful and absolutely irresistible anthology featuring previously unpublished pieces like Respect You Breakfast and Uncle Ken Goes to Sera as well as beloved classics from Bond's books.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eContents\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eINTRODUCTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCRAZY RELATIVES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUncle Ken\u003cbr\u003eAt Sea with Uncle Ken\u003cbr\u003eGrandpa Tickles a Tiger\u003cbr\u003eGrandfather Fights an Ostrich\u003cbr\u003eOwls in the Family\u003cbr\u003eHe Said It with Arsenic\u003cbr\u003eGrandfather's Many Faces\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCRAZY CREATURES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Crow for all Seasons\u003cbr\u003eThe Elephant and the Cassowary Bird\u003cbr\u003eAll Creatures Great and Small\u003cbr\u003eThe Parrot Who would not Talk\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCRAZY PLACES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGhosts of the Savoy\u003cbr\u003eThe Writers' Bar\u003cbr\u003eVoting at Barlowganj\u003cbr\u003eThe Night the Roof Blew Off\u003cbr\u003eUp at Sisters Bazaar\u003cbr\u003eBhabhiji's House\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCRAZY PEOPLE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMiss Bun and Others\u003cbr\u003eMiss Ramola and Others\u003cbr\u003eThe Trouble with Jinns\u003cbr\u003eGhosts on the Veranda\u003cbr\u003eCalypso Christmas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCRAZY WRITER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Handful of Nuts\u003cbr\u003eLandour Days\u003cbr\u003eGetting the Juices Flowing\u003cbr\u003eAll About My Walkabouts\u003cbr\u003eA Knock at the Door\u003cbr\u003eRespect Your Breakfast\u003cbr\u003eBattles Long Ago\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The India Club","offers":[{"title":"Ruskin Bond \/ Penguin \/ Paperback","offer_id":40776541700265,"sku":"24334","price":19.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0582\/1048\/4393\/products\/24334_ef882e7d-bf4c-49e5-845d-81b10956f1cf.jpg?v=1625518479"},{"product_id":"24338-a-house-in-the-old-style","title":"A House in the Old Style","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Ananda Mukerji\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: HarperCollins\u003cbr\u003eYear: 2008\u003cbr\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003ePages: 311\u003cbr\u003eISBN\/UPC (if available): 9788172237295\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Description\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a gently humorous, elegantly understated novel about the pleasures and disappointments of an old-fashioned family with Old-world values. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYoungest-Uncle, octogenarian and master storyteller, is the cherished eldest member of his deceased brother's family, and lives with his nephews, their sons, wives and grandchildren, in an old colonial mansion in Allahabad.  The colourful stories of his youth, which he recounts with great flourish and comic timing, are a huge hit with the children of the house.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut Swapan - his corporate son born from a late, second marriage and way of his father's somewhat dubious past - is home for the Durga Puja festivities and feels duty-bound to take his father away with him, far from the comfort of his extended family and the courtesies of a traditional Prabashi household, to the tightly nuclear confines of his own….\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The India Club","offers":[{"title":"Ananda Mukerji \/ HarperCollins \/ Paperback","offer_id":40776541733033,"sku":"24338","price":26.15,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0582\/1048\/4393\/products\/24338_d59738f1-7a79-4d27-aa96-c45683e262b7.jpg?v=1625527325"},{"product_id":"24963-mira-the-mahatama","title":"Mira \u0026 The Mahatama","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Sudhir Kakar\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Penguin\u003cbr\u003eYear: 2006\u003cbr\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003ePages: 267\u003cbr\u003eISBN\/UPC (if available): 0143099647\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Description\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is 1925 and India's struggle for independence is in disarray, impeded by factionalism among its leaders and rising incidents of communal disharmony across the country. Meanwhile, having withdrawn himself from active politics, Bapu—Mahatma Gandhi—is in the Sabarmati ashram in Gujarat, immersed in the creation of an ideal community that is dedicated to the highest standards of self-discipline, tolerance and austerity. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInto this world comes Madeleine Slade, the daughter of a British admiral, who has set her heart on becoming Bapu's greatest disciple. Bapu embraces her into the fold and, as she becomes an indispensable part of the ashram and his life, renames her Mira after Mirabai, the legendary devotee of Krishna. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut it is not long before Mira's all-consuming desire to serve Bapu transforms into a desperate need to be close to him at all times and clashes head-on with the exacting moral and spiritual codes he has laid down for himself and those around him. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd as the self-doubting Mahatma, seeking to distance himself from Mira yet loath to let go of her love, wrestles with his inner phantoms, Mira's life begins to take another dramatic turn . . . \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOMMENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘A brilliantly woven narrative, with facts as the warp and imagination as the weft . . . Kakar's is a marvellous effort to peel away the layers surrounding Gandhi'\u003cbr\u003e—Hindu \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘A sublime, sensual portrait of the Mahatma' —Hindustan Times \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Not only brilliantly researched but also grippingly narrated. With his third novel, [Kakar] has established a unique niche for himself in the world of Indian English fiction' —India Today \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘A fascinating study . . . combining the craft of the historian with the art of a creative writer . . . gripping story very engagingly told' \u003cbr\u003e—Statesman \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘A love story, made all the more poignant by the agony it caused . . . Kakar's Gandhi is supremely relevant for today'\u003cbr\u003e —Mark Tully, Outlook \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Skilful manipulation of time enables Sudhir Kakar to reclaim a space between history and imagination . . . beautifully written novel' \u003cbr\u003e—Telegraph \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Mira and the Mahatma is his best book. It makes one fall in love with Bapu' \u003cbr\u003e—Khushwant Singh, Tribune \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Perhaps the most passionate of platonic love relationships of all times' \u003cbr\u003e—Neue Zuricher Zeitung, Zurich \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Kakar weaves a vivid portrait of those extraordinary years in India's history . . . a must for all those fascinated by the freedom movement and its moral underpinnings' \u003cbr\u003e—Business Standard \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘This heroic master became at the same time a political myth, a spiritual icon and a real man, an astonishing mix of fragility and determination, greatness and oddness . . . It is this intimate Gandhi . . . which sets the scene for this magnificent work by Sudhir Kakar, one of the principal figures in contemporary Indian thought and . . . a novelist of repute' —Le Monde, Paris\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The India Club","offers":[{"title":"Sudhir Kakar \/ Penguin \/ Paperback","offer_id":40776558477481,"sku":"24963","price":24.45,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0582\/1048\/4393\/products\/24963_c679b54b-7894-4b6e-9bda-124c58dde2dd.jpg?v=1625527574"},{"product_id":"25304-bedanabala-her-life-her-times","title":"Bedanabala - Her Life, Her Times","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Mahasweta Devi\u003cbr\u003eTranslator(s)\/ Editors(s): Sunandini Banerjee\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Seagull Books\u003cbr\u003eYear: 2005\u003cbr\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003ePages: 73\u003cbr\u003eISBN\/UPC (if available): 8170462916\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Description\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘We’ll take refuge, seek out shelter. Accept their tender ministrations. Gratefully use their donations to our cause. But when it suits us we’ll turn bhadralok and through this sudden windfall of respectability, we’ll ask “you married her?”\u003cbr\u003e‘But….they are….’\u003cbr\u003e‘Prostitutes. Whores. Kept women. And who are they, who visit them? Who enter their rooms? Young men, from homes like yours and mine. But they are innocent, isn’t that so? All the sin left behind to keep these women company?’\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpoken in the first person, these reminiscences of a woman whose mother was rescued from a house of ill-repute construct a history not often documented. A history that runs parallel to the official narrative of India’s modernism and nationalism: that of women outcast because they are ‘fallen’. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStarting from the late nineteenth century, the voice of Bedanabala bears witness to the experiences of many women who find themselves outside the safety of domestic walls and thereafter make their lives in the only ways open to them in a society where women did not work except as domestic servants entertaining men, developing liaisons, intertwining their dreams and passions with the destiny of a country struggling for independence and questioning oppressive time-worn social custom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBedanabala, written in 1996, seeks to empathize with a segment of society condemned even by other women as beyond the bounds of decency and social acceptance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The India Club","offers":[{"title":"Mahasweta Devi \/ Seagull Books \/ Paperback","offer_id":40776565457065,"sku":"25304","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0582\/1048\/4393\/products\/25304_114de555-8d7c-4b9b-a35e-67d8e0a09e4c.jpg?v=1625499660"},{"product_id":"25703-thanks-for-the-memories","title":"Thanks for the Memories","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Cecelia Ahern\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: HarperCollins\u003cbr\u003eYear: 2008\u003cbr\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003ePages: 489\u003cbr\u003eISBN\/UPC (if available): 9780007311309\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Description\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJoyce Conway remembers things she shouldn't. She knows about tiny cobbled streets in Paris, which she has never visited. And every night she dreams about an unknown little girl with blonde hair.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJustin Hitchcock is divorced, lonely and restless. He arrives in Dublin to give a lecture on art and meets an attractive doctor, who persuades him to donate blood. It's the first thing to come straight from his heart in a long time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen Joyce leaves hospital after a terrible accident, with her life and her marriage in pieces, she moves back in with her elderly father. All the while, a strong sense of deja vu is overwhelming her and she can't figure out why…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eREVIEW\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Cecelia Ahern is queen of the modern fairytale.'\u003cbr\u003e-Irish Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘The legendary Ahern will keep you guessing what binds these stories. A classic.’\u003cbr\u003e-Company\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The India Club","offers":[{"title":"Cecelia Ahern \/ HarperCollins \/ Paperback","offer_id":40776569323689,"sku":"25703","price":22.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0582\/1048\/4393\/products\/25703_dac51f10-7f4d-4408-866e-8e3ea0ed8612.jpg?v=1625518966"},{"product_id":"2649-phoolan","title":"Phoolan","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Irene Frain\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Roli Books\u003cbr\u003eYear: 201\u003cbr\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003ePages: 403\u003cbr\u003eISBN\/UPC (if available): 8174360093\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Description\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book weaves in detail the story of the legendary, woman bandit, Phoolan Devi, and is stirring for its exceptional candor and sympathy.  Phoolan, is a part real, part fictional work.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe story of Phoolan Devi is being constantly refashioned, including by herself, its heroine but not always its mater; it is made of the stuff of which myths are woven.  It is the tale of the rather strange little girl of whom women said that time would tame her, of the legendary criminal who would keep breathless the police force of Uttar Pradesh till her proud surrender in 1983.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe author met her heroine in jail in April 1990, after four years of unsuccessful quest. A perfect mix of real and imaginary which makes us feel the dark seduction of a universe laden with the monsoon and supernatural, torn between the aspiration for peace of a Buddha or a Gandhi and tribal cults exacerbated to murderous frenzy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the 1991 elections, the Bandit Queen gets 17 votes; in 1993, the wild and lyrical voice of Irene Frain makes her live as a character in a novel and it is irresistible.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The India Club","offers":[{"title":"Irene Frain \/ Roli Books \/ Paperback","offer_id":40776585904297,"sku":"2649","price":19.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0582\/1048\/4393\/products\/2815_7cc46dcd-2ffb-4577-9570-2f638daea57e.jpg?v=1625519194"},{"product_id":"28239-another-gulmohar-tree","title":"Another Gulmohar Tree","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Aamer Hussein\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Penguin\u003cbr\u003eYear: 2009\u003cbr\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003ePages: 150\u003cbr\u003eISBN\/UPC (if available): 9780143067399\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Description\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUsman, a writer, is visiting post-war London from Pakistan, when he meets a young aspiring artist called Lydia. The common bond of their failed marriages draws these lonely strangers together, but just as their friendship begins to blossom into something deeper Usman has to return to Karachi, leaving Lydia behind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTwo years later, Lydia impulsively abandons her life in London and boards a ship to Karachi, where the two are married. But as the years pass by Usman feels a distance growing between them, one which becomes increasingly difficult to bridge.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWeaving together timeless fables and a modern tale, in turns wry and unashamedly romantic, Another Gulmohar Tree is a heart-warming account of a marriage marked by enduring love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOMMENTS:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Taut yet lush . . . like the flame-bright flowers of the gulmohar tree itself. At its heart it is a story of love, into which Hussein weaves all his remarkable skills of storytelling’.\u003cbr\u003e—Kamila Shamsie \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘From the first paragraph Another Gulmohar Tree plunges us into a world that is irrefutably real. It’s this perfectly judged and rendered sense of reality—which pervades these characters’ lives, as well as the cities they inhabit—that immediately absorbs and disarms the reader. We are lucky to have Hussein among us, telling us stories as few can, with his particular mixture of deep love, understanding, and sadness’.\u003cbr\u003e—Amit Chaudhuri\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The India Club","offers":[{"title":"Aamer Hussein \/ Penguin \/ Paperback","offer_id":40776599535785,"sku":"28239","price":19.25,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0582\/1048\/4393\/products\/28239_42c467bb-a377-42aa-86c9-a4b1c85ac79a.jpg?v=1625519514"},{"product_id":"7941-the-enigma-of-arrival","title":"The Enigma of Arrival","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor: V S Naipaul\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Picador India\u003cbr\u003eYear: 2002\u003cbr\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003ePages: 387\u003cbr\u003eISBN\/UPC (if available): 0330487159\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Description\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Enigma of Arrival tells of a young Indian from the Caribbean arriving in post-imperial England and consciously, over many years, finding himself as a writer. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is the story of a singular journey-from one place to another, from the British colony of Trinidad to the ancient countryside of England and from one state of mind to another-and is perhaps Naipaul’s most autobiographical work. Yet it is also woven through with remarkable invention to make it a rich and complex novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eREVIEWS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt has great dignity, compassion and candour. It is written with the expected beauty of style. It is philosophical and yet it smells of the earth…Instead of diminishing life, Naipaul ennobles it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e-Anthony Burgess, Observer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNaipaul records without rancor or nostalgia the ravages of time on this random rural patch. Gradually a wholly familiar process takes on his alien perspective. The contemporary countryside…falls into place as part of a much grander, ancient, unceasing drift of men and things over the face of the earth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e-Hilary Spurling, Daily Telegraph\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA wonderful book in the original sense of the adjective-a magical book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e-Jan Morris, Independent\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eContents\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePART ONE\u003cbr\u003eJack’s Garden\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePART TWO\u003cbr\u003eThe Journey\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePART THREE\u003cbr\u003eIvy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePART FOUR\u003cbr\u003eRooks\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePART FIVE\u003cbr\u003eThe Ceremony of Farewell\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The India Club","offers":[{"title":"V S Naipaul \/ Picador India \/ Paperback","offer_id":40776710258857,"sku":"7941","price":22.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0582\/1048\/4393\/products\/7941_8cb6a438-ae60-42e0-aba3-193e20c4ed73.jpg?v=1625521467"},{"product_id":"9490-the-twentieth-wife-a-novel","title":"The Twentieth Wife - A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Indu Sundaresan\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Penguin\u003cbr\u003eYear: 2002\u003cbr\u003eLanguage: English\u003cbr\u003ePages: 388\u003cbr\u003eISBN\/UPC (if available): 0143028588\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Description\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis debut novel tells the story of Mehrunnisa - the Sun of Women - one of India's most legendary and controversial empresses, a woman whose brilliance and determination trumped myriad obstacles, and whose love shaped the course  of the Mughal Empire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis debut novel tells the story of Mehrunnisa - the Sun of Women - one of India's most legendary and controversial empresses, a woman whose brilliance and determination trumped myriad obstacles, and whose love shaped the course3 of the Mughal Empire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe daughter of refugees from Persia, growing up on the fringes of Emperor Akbar's opulent palace grounds, Mehrunnisa first encounters  Prince Salim on his wedding day.  All of eight year old, she decides she too will one day become Salim's wife - wholly unaware of the great price she and her family will pay for this dream.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSkillfully blending the textures of historical reality with the rich imagining of a fairy tale, The Twentieth Wife sweeps readers up in the emotional pageant of Salim and Menrunnisa's embattled love.  From an ill-fated first marriage through motherhood and into a dangerous maze of power struggles and political machinations, Mehrunnisa searches for the true, redemptive love she has never known.  Mehrunnisa's and Salim's quest takes them, and the vast empire that hangs in balance, to places they never dreamed possible.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOMMENT:  A Fascinating novel about a fascinating time . . Alive with characters that are at once human and legendary, that move with grace and panache across the brilliant stage the author has reconstructed for them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- Chitra Banerjee Divakurni, author of The Mistress of Spices and The Unknown Errors of our Lives\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The India Club","offers":[{"title":"Indu Sundaresan \/ Penguin \/ Paperback","offer_id":40776761213097,"sku":"9490","price":25.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0582\/1048\/4393\/products\/9490_bf04c878-fa77-4bcf-a66b-4277c0be1173.jpg?v=1625530435"}],"url":"https:\/\/indiaclub.com\/de\/collections\/biographical-fiction.oembed","provider":"The India Club","version":"1.0","type":"link"}