Zemindar


Book Description

An international bestseller and winner of the 1981 Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize, Zemindar is a magnificent, twisting love story, all unfolding against the tempestuous backdrop of the Indian Rebellion. Englishwoman Laura Hewitt accompanies her newly engaged cousin to India, first to Calcutta and then to the fabled fiefdom of Oliver Erskine, Zemindar – or hereditary ruler – of a private kingdom with its own army. But India is on the verge of the Mutiny, which will sweep them all up in its chaos... Praise for Zemindar: 'If you loved The Far Pavilions – and who didn't – this will be your dish too' Cosmopolitan 'Utterly addictive' Washington Post




Cobalt Blue


Book Description

Now a film from Netflix India, this memorable novel confronts issues of sexuality in a changing society through a love triangle between a brother, sister, and their family’s lodger Recently adapted into a stunning Netflix film, Cobalt Blue is a tale of rapturous love and fierce heartbreak told with tenderness and unsparing clarity. Brother and sister Tanay and Anuja both fall in love with the same man, an artist lodging in their family home in Pune, in western India. He seems like the perfect tenant, ready with the rent and happy to listen to their mother’s musings on the imminent collapse of Indian culture. But he’s also a man of mystery. He has no last name. He has no family, no friends, no history, and no plans for the future. When he runs away with Anuja, he overturns the family’s lives. Translated from the Marathi by acclaimed novelist and critic Jerry Pinto, Sachin Kundalkar’s elegantly wrought and exquisitely spare novel explores the disruption of a traditional family by a free-spirited stranger in order to examine a generation in transition. Intimate, moving, sensual, and wry in its portrait of young love, Cobalt Blue is a frank and lyrical exploration of gay life in India that recalls the work of Edmund White and Alan Hollinghurst—of people living in emotional isolation, attempting to find long-term intimacy in relationships that until recently were barely conceivable to them.




The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels


Book Description

A New York Times Notable Book of 2021 “The kind of book for which the word “rollicking” was invented.”—New York Times Book Review A prim and proper lady thief must save her aunt from a crazed pirate and his dangerously charming henchman in this fantastical historical romance. Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She's also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it's a pleasant existence. Until the men show up. Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he's under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman. When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her--hopefully proving, once and for all, that she's as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.




Forbidden Jewel of India


Book Description

Anusha Laurens is in danger. The daughter of an Indian princess and an English peer, she's the perfect pawn in the opulent courts of Rajasthan. Even so, she will not return to the father who rejected her. Arrogant angrezi Major Nicholas Herriard is charged with bringing the alluring princess safely to her new life in Calcutta. Nick's mission is to protect, to serve—but under the searing Indian sun an initial attraction unfurls into a forbidden temptation. This beautiful, impossible princess tests the very limits of his honor—especially when Nick is left with only one option to keep Anusha safe: marriage. But the fast-flowing waters of the Ganges determine a different fate, and duty may separate them forever….




Love in Ancient India


Book Description

This book chronicles the story of love which is considered an Indian creation. The first love story of the world was found in the Rig Veda and the first comprehensive work on love was written in India with Kamasutra becoming one of its offshoots. Love techniques were perfected over centuries and sculpted on the walls of temples of Khajuraho and Konarak. Since ancient times, rishis in India have believed that it was love which came first and then followed the world. The origin and evolution of love in India is traced by the author in an elaborate manner, providing invaluable insights which make this book a rare treasury in itself. The book draws from concrete sources including cave paintings, ancient archaeological findings and a mass of literature belonging to the Vedic and Buddhist eras to give a complete portrayal of love. Through love lyrics, humorous plays and erotic descriptions, Love in Ancient India takes you through a timeless saga of royalty and grandeur, beauty and infidelity, all of which are interspersed with the concept of the world’s most bewitching expression - love.




Legally in Love


Book Description

From the Amazon #1 Best Selling Author Prasenjeet Kumar comes his debut Legal Romance Novel that will bring a smile to your face and tears to your eyes. Meet Amit Verma, a 27 year-old dreamy corporate lawyer looking for a job in Delhi, India. One morning, while going through his mobile phone contact list, he comes across the entry for Naina Karnad, a girl who stole his heart some two years back in his former workplace. The problem: He has not dialled her number in a year. Will they ever meet again? Will their love life survive the corporate intrigues and the recession? "Legally in love" is a powerful tale of two souls battling their way through the ruthless world of corporate office politics to discovering their true love and passion. If you love reading clean and wholesome romance, buy a copy now. And enjoy!




I Too Had a Love Story


Book Description

This 10th anniversary edition of I Too had a Love Story brings to life one of the decade's most-loved romance novels with gorgeous illustrations in a brand new design. With a personal note from the author, this book is a collector's edition. It will also make for a fabulous gift. Do love stories ever die? . . . How would you react when a beautiful person comes into your life, and then goes away from you . . . forever? Not all love stories are meant to have a perfect ending. I Too Had a Love Story is one such saga. It is the tender and heartfelt tale of Ravin and Khushi--two people who found each other on a matrimonial site and fell in love . . . until life put their love to the ultimate test. Romantic, emotional and sincere, this heartbreaking true life story has already touched a million hearts. This bestselling novel is a must-read for anyone who believes in the magic of love . . .




Unforgotten


Book Description

As life expectancy increases in India, the number of people living with dementia will also rise. Yet little is known about how people in India cope with dementia, how relationships and identities change through illness and loss. In addressing this question, this book offers a rich ethnographic account of how middle-class families in urban India care for their relatives with dementia. From the husband who wakes up at 3 am to feed his wife ice-cream to the daughters who gave up employment for seven years to care for their mother with dementia, this book illuminates the local idioms on dementia and aging, the personal experience of care-giving, the functioning of stigma in daily life, and the social and cultural barriers in accessing support.




Same-Sex Love in India


Book Description

Same-Sex Love in India presents a stunning array of writings on same-sex love from over 2000 years of Indian literature. Translated from more than a dozen languages and drawn from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and modern fictional traditions, these writings testify to the presence of same-sex love in various forms since ancient times, without overt persecution. This collection defies both stereotypes of Indian culture and Foucault's definition of homosexuality as a nineteenth-century invention, uncovering instead complex discourses of Indian homosexuality, rich metaphorical traditions to represent it, and the use of names and terms as early as medieval times to distinguish same-sex from cross-sex love. An eminent group of scholars have translated these writings for the first time or have re-translated well-known texts to correctly make evident previously underplayed homoerotic content. Selections range from religious books, legal and erotic treatises, story cycles, medieval histories and biographies, modern novels, short stories, letters, memoirs, plays and poems. From the Rigveda to Vikram Seth, this anthology will become a staple in courses on gender and queer studies, Asian studies, and world literature.




India in Love


Book Description

A ground-breaking look at the sexual revolution that is beginning to sweep through urban India. The National Bestseller India in Love: Marriage and Sexuality in the 21st Century is a ground-breaking look at the sexual revolution that is starting to sweep through urban India. Bestselling author Ira Trivedi travelled from Shilling in the northeast to Chennai in the south, Konark in the east to Mumbai in the west and over a dozen other cities and towns in order to gain unprecedented insights into changing sexual habits, marriage and love everywhere in the country. The book explores the mating habits of young Indians on college campuses and in offices, examines the new face of Indian pornography and prostitution, probes India's gay revolution and delves into history, economics and sociology to try and understand how the nation that gave the world the Kamasutra could have become a closed, repressed society with a shockingly high incidence of rape and violence against women the dark underside to the greater sexual freedom that men and women in our cities have begun to enjoy today. Trivedi goes deep into one of the most enduring institutions of Indian society marriage and investigates how it is faring in modern times. She interviews marriage brokers, astrologers, lawyers, relationship counsellors, 'love commandos', parents and nervous young brides and grooms, amongst others, to present a nuanced picture of the state of marriage in the country. She discovers that love marriages are skyrocketing and even the age-old arranged marriage is undergoing a transformation. Also on the rise are divorces, extra-marital affairs, open marriages, live-in-relationships and the like. Supporting her eye-opening reportage with hundreds of interviews, detailed research, authoritative published surveys and discussions with experts on various aspects of sexuality and marriage, Trivedi has written a book that is often startling, sometimes controversial, but is always entertaining and original.