Diary of a Djinn


Book Description

The all-knowing djinn of ancient lore can adopt many forms, but there are times when it chooses the limits of one body, one life. In this bewitching first novel, a djinn takes up residence in a restlessly brilliant woman, guiding her choices in life and love as she chases the satisfaction that eludes her—from a cloistered Florentine boarding school to the glamour of a Milan fashion house to a life beyond her means in 1990s Manhattan. She is as skilled at observing the worlds she moves through as her djinn is skilled at observing her, but an ever-growing self-awareness does not help her to realize her heart’s desires. That is, until the wise djinn puts her in the path of the Princess: imperious octogenarian and mother of a man she can never fully possess. With Diary of Djinn, Alhadeff has given us a novel of playful intelligence and insight, and a poignant testimony to love’s unpredictable unfolding.




The Sun at Midday: Tales of a Mediterranean Family


Book Description

This astonishing memoir is the story of a family who always felt slightly foreign in every country and developed a chameleon-like ability to adapt to their surroundings. Gini Alhadeff was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and grew up in Cairo, Khartoum, Florence, and Tokyo. With a vivid gift for narrative, Alhadeff evokes the languid Alexandria of the early decades of this century (where her mother’s family made its fortune in cotton) and some of its beguiling honorary citizens: a violet-eyed aunt who refused to have new slipcovers made for her sofa so President Nasser would find the old ones when her house was impounded; a cousin who was taught the limits of reason by Wittgenstein at Cambridge and became a monsignor; a gynecologist uncle interned at Auschwitz and then Buchenwald, who lived to tell his tale with stark unsentimentality. With a keen sense for both the comic and the tragic, Alhadeff sizes up what is left of the family fortune: a tendency to live beyond one’s means, the stories and legends that survive the rise and fall of families, and the present as a paradise for those who, having lost all, have nothing to lose.




The Djinn's Retribution


Book Description

In 1936 and at just 17years old, Yusuf Abbas murders two desert travellers for their camels and worldly goods. In 1950 and now calling himself Sheikh Yusuf Abbas, he murders a British Ambassador and the members of a British oil exploration company, shortly afterwards, when a neighbouring Sheikh and his family are poisoned, he merges their lands to create the Sabba Oil empire. On the other side of the world, Richard Neilson, a sickly 14-year-old is devastated when his beloved father (whilst working in Egypt) is decapitated by Arab fanatics. He vows to avenge his death. Two years later, and having thrown himself into a gruelling fitness regime, he enlists in the army and eventually wins selection into the SAS. Najeeb Abbas (Yusuf’s son) is a malevolent, unremorseful psychopath who, upon leaving Cambridge University with a degree in nuclear physics, persuades his father to fund a desert research facility to tackle global warming. But beneath the façade, his intentions are much darker and the consequences of his actions prove fatal for his remorseful father and potentially devastating for the Gulf of Mexica and Canadian Cantrell’s oilfields. Fate throws these two polar opposite lives together, and once again Richard’s family is threatened by Abbas’ deep-rooted intentions to destroy. Will he succeed? Or will Richard finally get the revenge he’s spent most of his life planning? Discover for yourself in this dark, gritty, and electrifying world of Al-Qaeda, terrorist conspiracies, SAS heroes, M16 agents, suicide bombings, assassination plans and desert ops – where revenge stops at nothing.




The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil


Book Description

‘Beautiful, just beautiful. A story – a history really – elegiacally written and filled with everything that makes for an absorbing read: love, intrigue, conflict, mystique, and so much character. Shubnum Khan’s The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil invites us to examine South Africa’s issues of race, class and gender through a refreshingly unique lens. A revelation!’ – SIPHIWE GLORIA NDLOVU, critically acclaimed and award-winning author of The City of Kings Trilogy A haunting, a mystery and a long-forgotten love story intertwine in this tender, lyrical novel about a young girl’s search for belonging Sana and Meena will never meet. The two women share little beyond Akbar Manzil, the sprawling mansion they call home. When Meena fell in love with the owner of the house, it was the grandest residence on South Africa’s east coast near Durban. Eight decades later when Sana follows in her footsteps, the house is crumbling, shabby and dark. This is a place where people come to forget. Or to be forgotten. Full of questions about her new home, Sana is drawn to the deserted east wing. Soon, she begins to discover the tangled, troubling history of the house, dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone at Akbar Manzil – living and dead. Gorgeously atmospheric and endlessly playful, with echoes of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil is perfect for fans of Elif Shafak’s The Island of Missing Trees and Neema Shah’s Kololo Hill.




The A-Z Djinn Detective Agency


Book Description

Lost a pet? Can’t find something valuable? Noticed any suspicious activity? Need to investigate a mystery? Have a clue to solve? A treasure to find? A secret room to explore? Call The A to Z Detective Agency to do the work for you! No mystery too small, All you have to do is give us a call! We’ll even let you in on a little secret: We have a touch of enchanted luck on our side. And if you’re not happy with our work, We’ll even offer you your money back! Call Ashwin Kamath at 02226666666 The A to Z Detective Agency by Ashwin and Zubeida, Where every mystery comes to rest.




Fractured Borders


Book Description

Women have been writing about cancer for decades, but since the early 1990s, the body of literature on cancer has increased exponentially as growing numbers of women face the searing realities of the disease and give testimony to its ravages and revelations. Fractured Borders: Reading Women's Cancer Literature surveys a wide range of contemporary writing about breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer, including works by Marilyn Hacker, Margaret Edson, Carole Maso, Audre Lorde, Eve Sedgwick, Mahasweta Devi, Lucille Clifton, Alicia Ostriker, Jayne Anne Phillips, Terry Tempest Williams, and Jeanette Winterson, among many others. DeShazer's readings bring insights from body theory, performance theory, feminist literary criticism, French feminisms, and disability studies to bear on these works, shining new light on a literary subject that is engaging more and more writers. "An important and useful book that will appeal to people in a variety of fields and walks of life, including scholars, teachers, and anyone interested in this subject." --Suzanne Poirier, University of Illinois at Chicago "A book on a timely and important topic, wisely written beyond scholarly boundaries and crossing many theoretical and disciplinary lines." --Patricia Moran, University of California, Davis




Conversations with Paul Bowles


Book Description

Collected interviews with the author of The Sheltering Sky, Let It Come Down, and The Spider's House




Diary of a Soccer Star


Book Description




Forthcoming Books


Book Description




Giorgio Armani


Book Description

Exploring 35 years of creative output, this richly illustrated book offers an unprecedented look into Giorgio Armani?s unique aesthetic, corporate and cultural strategies. More than any other designer, Armani best represents the global success of the ?Made in Italy? label. His impact is palpable not simply in women?s fashion and red carpet glamour, but is also inseparable from the evolution of the menswear industry. Written in a lively and accessible style, the book includes thoughtful and provocative chapters exploring: the evolution of the man?s suit; boutique culture in a global reality; the influence of Orientalism; the designer?s ambivalent relationship with the fashion press; the business of vertical branding; the use of the evening dress to construct the house?s history; power dressing for the modern woman; the relationship between textiles, film and the contours of masculinity; the continued dialogue with early twentieth-century aesthetics; as well as the spaces and bodies of the theatre of fashion. The first holistic and critical investigation of one of the most influential fashion houses in the world, Giorgio Armani: Empire of the Senses is a must read for anyone interested in the history and theories of fashion.