Download or read book Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows written by Balli Kaur Jaswal and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-06-13 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club Pick A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women’s lives at all ages—a spicy and alluring mix of Together Tea and Calendar Girls. Every woman has a secret life . . . Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she’s spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father’s death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a "creative writing" course at the community center in the beating heart of London’s close-knit Punjabi community. Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected—and exciting—kind. As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community’s "moral police." But when the widows’ gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife—a modern woman like Nikki—and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.
Download or read book The Girl with Ghost Eyes written by M. H. Boroson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-11-03 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The Girl with Ghost Eyes is a fun, fun read. Martial arts and Asian magic set in Old San Francisco make for a fresh take on urban fantasy, a wonderful story that kept me up late to finish.” —#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs It’s the end of the nineteenth century in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and ghost hunters from the Maoshan traditions of Daoism keep malevolent spiritual forces at bay. Li-lin, the daughter of a renowned Daoshi exorcist, is a young widow burdened with yin eyes—the unique ability to see the spirit world. Her spiritual visions and the death of her husband bring shame to Li-lin and her father—and shame is not something this immigrant family can afford. When a sorcerer cripples her father, terrible plans are set in motion, and only Li-lin can stop them. To aid her are her martial arts and a peachwood sword, her burning paper talismans, and a wisecracking spirit in the form of a human eyeball tucked away in her pocket. Navigating the dangerous alleys and backrooms of a male-dominated Chinatown, Li-lin must confront evil spirits, gangsters, and soulstealers before the sorcerer’s ritual summons an ancient evil that could burn Chinatown to the ground. With a rich and inventive historical setting, nonstop martial arts action, authentic Chinese magic, and bizarre monsters from Asian folklore, The Girl with Ghost Eyes is also the poignant story of a young immigrant searching to find her place beside the long shadow of a demanding father and the stigma of widowhood. In a Chinatown caught between tradition and modernity, one woman may be the key to holding everything together. Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
Download or read book Sugarbread written by Balli Kaur Jaswal and published by Epigram Books. This book was released on 2016 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pin must not become like her mother, but nobody will tell her why. She seeks clues in Ma’s cooking when she’s not fighting other battles—being a bursary girl at an elite school and facing racial taunts from the bus uncle. Then her meddlesome grandmother moves in, installing a portrait of a watchful Sikh guru and a new set of house rules. Old secrets begin to surface but can Pin handle learning the truth? Reader Reviews: “This novel is sensitively written, and raises important issues subtly: racism and racialisation; religiosity and its relation to identity; patriarchal values; class; and the intersection of Christianity and capitalism in the wonderful speech about 'spiritual bank accounts'. All the characters have depth and complexity and the two layers of the narrative (the experiences of Pin and of her mother Jini) are skilfully blended. There are some beautiful descriptive passages, and I like the way in which metaphors are used sparingly, but to good effect.” —Philip Holden, editor of Writing Singapore and Epigram Books Fiction Prize 2015 judge “Pin is an earnest and enchanting child, through whose curious and clear-sighted eyes we see family life and complications and childhood cliques and racism. But this entertaining book also has touching insights into love, hope and wisdom, and characters that will stay with you long after you finish it.” —Ovidia Yu, author of Aunty Lee’s Chilled Revenge “This is the most glorious mic drop moment in Singaporean Literature. Sugarbread is such a tender and powerful response to the many celebrated voices in Singapore that represent minority experiences through tokenism or ignore them altogether. Balli Kaur Jaswal has made me feel like my ten-year-old self could be someone’s protagonist, like my skin belongs in the pages of books in my country. She’s turned the mirrors on Singapore and our conversations about identity in a spectacular fashion. Her prose is delicate, precise and aching. Her storytelling lingers with you for days. This novel is triumphant and absolutely essential reading for anyone who cares about living in this city.” —Pooja Nansi, author of Love is an Empty Barstool
Download or read book The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters written by Balli Kaur Jaswal and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-04-30 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club selection Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows follows her acclaimed America debut with this life-affirming, witty family drama—an Indian This Is Where I Leave You—about three Punjabi sisters embarking on a pilgrimage to their homeland to lay their mother to rest. The British-born Punjabi Shergill sisters—Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirina—were never close and barely got along growing up, and now as adults, have grown even further apart. Rajni, a school principal is a stickler for order. Jezmeen, a thirty-year-old struggling actress, fears her big break may never come. Shirina, the peacemaking "good" sister married into wealth and enjoys a picture-perfect life. On her deathbed, their mother voices one last wish: that her daughters will make a pilgrimage together to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to carry out her final rites. After a trip to India with her mother long ago, Rajni vowed never to return. But she’s always been a dutiful daughter, and cannot, even now, refuse her mother’s request. Jezmeen has just been publicly fired from her television job, so the trip to India is a welcome break to help her pick up the pieces of her broken career. Shirina’s in-laws are pushing her to make a pivotal decision about her married life; time away will help her decide whether to meekly obey, or to bravely stand up for herself for the first time. Arriving in India, these sisters will make unexpected discoveries about themselves, their mother, and their lives—and learn the real story behind the trip Rajni took with their Mother long ago—a momentous journey that resulted in Mum never being able to return to India again. The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters is a female take on the Indian travel narrative. "I was curious about how different the trip would be if it were undertaken by women, who are vulnerable to different dangers in a male-dominated society," Balli Kaur Jaswal writes. "I also wanted to explore the tensions between tradition and modernity in immigrant communities, and particularly how those tensions play out among women like these sisters, who are the first generation to be raised outside of India." Powerful, emotionally evocative, and wonderfully atmospheric, The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters is a charming and thoughtful story that illuminates the bonds of family, sisterhood, and heritage that tether us despite our differences. Funny and heartbreaking, it is a reminder of the truly important things we must treasure in our lives.
Download or read book Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows written by Balli Kaur Jaswal and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-03-09 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hilarious and heartwarming, an east-meets-west novel for fans of THE LITTLE COFFEE SHOP OF KABUL Every woman has a secret life... With visions of emancipating the women of the Sikh community she left behind as a self-important teenager, Nikki is shocked to find her creative writing class is a group of barely literate women who have no interest in her ideals of liberation. To her surprise, the white dupatta of the widow hides more than just their modesty - these are women who have spent their lives in the shadows of fathers, brothers and husbands; being dutiful, raising children and going to temple, but whose inner lives are as rich and fruitful as their untold stories. As they begin to open up to each other about womanhood, sexuality, and the dark secrets within the community, Nikki realises that the illicit nature of the class may place them all in danger. East meets west and tradition clashes with modernism in a thought-provoking cross-cultural novel that might make you look again at the women in your life...
Download or read book The Growing Season written by Helen Sedgwick and published by Random House. This book was released on 2017-09-07 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if anyone could have a baby? A boldly original and unforgettable novel from a rising star. Now we have equality. Now we’ve outgrown our biology. With FullLife’s baby pouch, women are liberated and men can share the joy of childbearing. Holly’s whole family knows the benefits, but Eva doesn’t believe society has changed for the better and Piotr has uncovered a secret behind FullLife’s glossy facade. What separates them may just bring them together, as they search for the truth about FullLife and each face a truth of their own. 'A compelling what-if about the female body, technology and power' Guardian
Download or read book The Demon Equilibrium written by Cathy Pegau and published by Bywater Books. This book was released on 2021-11-02 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grace Carter, a "source" of magic, has spent the last nine months searching for Maggie Mulvaney, her "catalyst." The joy of reuniting with her partner—and her lover—is thwarted by her worst fear: Maggie remembers neither Grace nor their life together in the Order of Saint Teresa, the centuries-old organization that trained them to be the strongest demon-hunting duo in generations. When Maggie and Grace unexpectedly come face-to-face with the demon Horde, they are forced to team up once again. As they begin to piece their lives back together, they discover that their memories have been masked by someone within the Order. Should the Horde succeed in their plan, those who have committed their lives to slay worldly demons will be relegated to little more than minions as humans are completely enslaved. Now, Grace and Maggie must sacrifice everything, possibly even their love, and their lives, in an all-out battle to save humanity.
Download or read book The Queen of Hearts written by Kimmery Martin and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-02-05 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful debut novel, praised by The New York Times, Bustle, and Hypable, that pulses with humor and empathy as it explores the heart's capacity for forgiveness.... Zadie Anson and Emma Colley have been best friends since their early twenties, when they first began navigating serious romantic relationships amid the intensity of medical school. Now they're happily married wives and mothers with successful careers--Zadie as a pediatric cardiologist and Emma as a trauma surgeon. Their lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, are chaotic but fulfilling, until the return of a former colleague unearths a secret one of them has been harboring for years. As chief resident, Nick Xenokostas was the center of Zadie's life--both professionally and personally--throughout a tragic chain of events during her third year of medical school that she has long since put behind her. Nick's unexpected reappearance at a time of new professional crisis shocks both women into a deeper look at the difficult choices they made at the beginning of their careers. As it becomes evident that Emma must have known more than she revealed about circumstances that nearly derailed both their lives, Zadie starts to question everything she thought she knew about her closest friend.
Download or read book The Darkest Child written by Delores Phillips and published by Soho Press. This book was released on 2018-01-30 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new edition of this award-winning modern classic, with an introduction by Tayari Jones (An American Marriage), an excerpt from the never before seen follow-up, and discussion guide. Pakersfield, Georgia, 1958: Thirteen-year-old Tangy Mae Quinn is the sixth of ten fatherless siblings. She is the darkest-skinned among them and therefore the ugliest in her mother, Rozelle’s, estimation, but she’s also the brightest. Rozelle—beautiful, charismatic, and light-skinned—exercises a violent hold over her children. Fearing abandonment, she pulls them from school at the age of twelve and sends them to earn their keep for the household, whether in domestic service, in the fields, or at “the farmhouse” on the edge of town, where Rozelle beds local men for money. But Tangy Mae has been selected to be part of the first integrated class at a nearby white high school. She has a chance to change her life, but can she break from Rozelle’s grasp without ruinous—even fatal—consequences?
Download or read book Inheritance written by and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Loving Monsters written by Laura Eppinger and published by . This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A clever vampire hides her secret by convincing her lovers that they have bedbugs. The Jersey Devil fans conspiracy theories in a world shut down by a pandemic. A haunted house, newly decorated in a minimalist style, wishes for more clutter to throw at its inhabitants. Laura Eppinger's flash collection Loving Monsters gives voice to the supernatural beings who are just as confused in our modern world as the mortals who made it. It turns out that even becoming undead is no substitute for a good couples' therapist.
Download or read book The Birds of Opulence written by Crystal Wilkinson and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2016-03-18 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lyrical exploration of love and loss, this book centers on several generations of women in a bucolic southern Black township as they live with and sometimes surrender to madness. The Goode-Brown family, led by matriarch and pillar of the community Minnie Mae, is plagued by old secrets and embarrassment over mental illness and illegitimacy. Meanwhile, single mother Francine Clark is haunted by her dead, lightning-struck husband and forced to fight against both the moral judgment of the community and her own rebellious daughter, Mona. The residents of Opulence struggle with vexing relationships to the land, to one another, and to their own sexuality. As the members of the youngest generation watch their mothers and grandmothers pass away, they live with the fear of going mad themselves and must fight to survive. The author offers up Opulence and its people in lush, poetic detail. It is a world of magic, conjuring, signs, and spells, but also of harsh realities that only love - and love that's handed down - can conquer.
Download or read book How to Pack written by Hitha Palepu and published by Clarkson Potter. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It’s time to pack perfect. Every trip, every time. Your journey starts here. When you travel, the journey is just as important as the destination—and packing is the first step. In How to Pack, Hitha Palepu, a former consultant who has traveled more than 500,000 cumulative miles around the world, shows that what and how you pack are who you are. Confidence and comfort inspire success upon arrival, whether you’re exploring a new city, hoping to nail a job interview, or relaxing on a beach. In How to Pack, you’ll learn about: · Power Pieces vs. Fantasy Pieces: How clothing earns its place in your suitcase · The Accessory Math Secret: The precise formula for all you need to finish off your outfits · Folding versus Rolling: What’s right for which items · Globetrotter Gorgeous: Editing your beauty routine while still looking great · The Packing Timeline: How to avoid “I’m forgetting something” syndrome · Pack Perfect Lists: Samples and blanks for any kind of trip
Download or read book Places I Stopped on the Way Home written by Meg Fee and published by Icon Books. This book was released on 2018-05-03 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Fee writes with stunning honesty ... utterly breathtaking' - Bustle A beautiful memoir from an exciting young writer, Meg Fee, on finding her way in New York City. Full of the dramas and quiet moments that make up a life, told with humour, heart, and hope. In Places I Stopped on the Way Home, Meg Fee plots a decade of her life in New York City – from falling in love at the Lincoln Center to escaping the roommate (and bedbugs) from hell on Thompson Street, chasing false promises on 66th Street and the wrong men everywhere, and finding true friendships over glasses of wine in Harlem and Greenwich Village. Weaving together her joys and sorrows, expectations and uncertainties, aspirations and realities, the result is an exhilarating collection of essays about love and friendship, failure and suffering, and above all hope. Join Meg on her heart-wrenching journey, as she cuts the difficult path to finding herself and finding home.
Download or read book Happiness A Memoir written by Heather Harpham and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2017-08-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine’s April 2018 book pick A shirt-grabbing, page-turning love story that follows a one-of-a-kind family through twists of fate that require nearly unimaginable choices. Happiness begins with a charming courtship between hopelessly attracted opposites: Heather, a world-roaming California girl, and Brian, an intellectual, homebody writer, kind and slyly funny, but loath to leave his Upper West Side studio. Their magical interlude ends, full stop, when Heather becomes pregnant—Brian is sure he loves her, only he doesn't want kids. Heather returns to California to deliver their daughter alone, buoyed by family and friends. Mere hours after Gracie's arrival, Heather's bliss is interrupted when a nurse wakes her, "Get dressed, your baby is in trouble." This is not how Heather had imagined new motherhood – alone, heartsick, an unexpectedly solo caretaker of a baby who smelled "like sliced apples and salted pretzels" but might be perilously ill. Brian reappears as Gracie's condition grows dire; together Heather and Brian have to decide what they are willing to risk to ensure their girl sees adulthood. The grace and humor that ripple through Harpham's writing transform the dross of heartbreak and parental fears into a clear-eyed, warm-hearted view of the world. Profoundly moving and subtly written, Happiness radiates in many directions--new, romantic love; gratitude for a beautiful, inscrutable world; deep, abiding friendship; the passion a parent has for a child; and the many unlikely ways to build a family. Ultimately it's a story about love and happiness, in their many crooked configurations.
Download or read book Everything Was Goodbye written by Gurjinder Basran and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-02-03 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE YOUNGEST OF SIX daughters raised by a widowed mother, Meena is a young woman struggling to find her place in the world. Originally from India, her family still holds on to many old-world customs and traditions that seem stifling to a young North American woman. She knows that the freedom experienced by others is beyond her reach. But unlike her older sisters, Meena refuses to accept a life dictated by tradition. Against her mother’s wishes, she falls for a young man named Liam who asks her to run away with him. Meena must then make a painful choice—one that will lead to stunning and irrevocable consequences. Heartbreaking and beautiful, Everything Was Good-bye is an unforgettable story about family, love, and loss, and the struggle to live in two different cultural worlds.
Download or read book What Are We Doing About Zoya written by Anisha Bhatia and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2021-07-13 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'An entertaining and delightful story about breaking tradition, creating your own path, and standing your ground' Jane Igharo, author of Ties That Tether Zoya must choose between tradition and the opportunity of a lifetime. . . ______________________________________ Zoya is not a perfect Indian daughter. She's overweight, independent and unmarried in a society that values slim, obedient women. And at twenty-six, she is hurtling towards her expiration date in Mumbai's arranged marriage super-mart. But when her family's matchmaking finally works, everything seems to be on the up - all until she is offered a dream job in New York City. Zoya must now make the choice of a lifetime, but not without a few cultural casualties and, of course, an accidental love story along the way . . . In this hilarious comedy of manners set in Mumbai, where modernity jostles with tradition, Balli Kaur Jaswal's EROTIC STORIES FOR PUNJABI WIDOWS meets Kevin Kwan's CRAZY RICH ASIANS. _______________________________________ Readers are LOVING What Are We Doing About Zoya? 'I loved this book from the first page . . . wizzed through the book in one sitting!' NETGALLEY REVIEWER, 5 stars 'I was completely hooked' NETGALLEY REVIEWER, 5 stars
