Download or read book The Magic of Saida written by M.G. Vassanji and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Giller Prize–winner M. G. Vassanji gives us a powerfully emotional novel of love and loss, of an African/Indian man who returns to the town of his birth in search of the girl he once loved—and the sense of self that has always eluded him. Kamal Punja is a physician who has lived in Canada for the past forty years, but whom we first meet in a Tanzanian hospital. He is delirious and says he has been poisoned with hallucinogens. But when Kamal finds a curious and sympathetic ear in a local publisher, his ravings begin to reveal a tale of extraordinary pathos, complexity, and mystery. Raised by his African mother, deserted when he was four by his Indian father, married to a woman of Indian heritage, and the father of two wholly Westernized children, Kamal had reached a stage of both undreamed-of material success and disintegrating personal ties. Then, suddenly, he “stepped off the treadmill, allowed an old regret to awaken,” and set off to find the girl he had known as a child, to finally keep his promise to her that he would return. The girl was Saida, granddaughter of a great, beloved Swahili poet. Kamal and Saida were constant companions—he teaching her English and arithmetic, she teaching him Arabic script and Swahili poetry—and in his child’s mind, she was his future wife. Until, when he was eleven, his mother sent him to the capital, Dar es Salaam, to live with his father’s relatives, to “become an Indian” and thus secure his future. Now Kamal is journeying back to the village he left, into the maze of his long-unresolved mixed-race identity and the nightmarish legacy of his broken promise to Saida. At once dramatic, searching, and intelligent, The Magic of Saida moves deftly between the past and present, painting both an intimate picture of passion and betrayal and a broad canvas of political promise and failure in contemporary Africa. It is a timeless story—and a story very much of our own time.
Download or read book Soulstream written by Saida Woolf and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soulstream is an all-ages fantasy superhero comic book series about a team of magic-wielding teenagers fighting to save another dimension, created by Saida Woolf and published by Scout Comics. It’s almost the end of Winter Break, and Marie is on a reluctant hike through the woods with her brother when they discover a mysterious portal and find themselves in another dimension. Marie is contacted by the Mage Goddess, who gives her the magical Ocean Bracelet, an item that allows her to transform into the superhero Soulstream. With her newfound powers, and the help of her friends, she embarks on a quest to save the Shattered World.
Download or read book The In Between World of Vikram Lall written by M.G. Vassanji and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2009-02-24 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Giller Prize-winner M.G. Vassanji’s The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is a haunting novel of corruption and regret that brings to life the complexity and turbulence of Kenyan society in the last five decades. Rich in sensuous detail and historical insight, this is a powerful story of passionate betrayals and political violence, racial tension and the strictures of tradition, told in elegant, assured prose. The novel begins in 1953, with eight-year-old Vikram Lall a witness to the celebrations around the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, just as the Mau Mau guerilla war for independence from Britain begins to gain strength. In a land torn apart by idealism, doubt, political upheaval and terrible acts of violence, Vic and his sister Deepa must find their place among a new generation. Neither colonists nor African, neither white nor black, the Indian brother and sister find themselves somewhere in between in their band of playmates: Bill and Annie, British children, and Njoroge, an African boy. These are the relationships that will shape the rest of their lives. We follow Vikram through the changes in East African society, the immense promise of the fifties and sixties. But when that hope is betrayed by the corruption and violence of the following decades, Vic is drawn into the Kenyatta government’s orbit of graft and power-broking. Njoroge, his childhood friend, can abandon neither the idealism of his youth nor his love for Vic’s sister Deepa. But neither the idealism of the one nor the passive cynicism of the other can avert the tragedies that await them. The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is a profound and careful examination of one man’s search for his place in the world, with themes that have run through Vassanji’s work: the nature of community in a volatile society, the relations between colony and colonizer, and the inescapable presence of the past. It is also, finally, a deeply personal book speaking to the people who are in the in-between.
Download or read book A GALLERY of CHILDREN Illustrated written by A. A. Milne and published by . This book was released on 2023-05-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alan Alexander Milne (18 January 1882 - 31 January 1956), also known as A.A. Milne was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, which was as well as for children's poetry.A Gallery of Children was published before the "Winnie-the-Pooh", and contains the following collection of twelve Fantasy stories:The Princess and the Apple-Tree / Sparrow Tree Square / The Twins / Miss Waterlow in Bed / Sand Babies / Poor Anne / A Voyage to India / Barbara's Birthday / The Baby Show / The Magic Hill / The Three Daughters of M. Dupont / Castles by the SeaOriginal Illustrations: Illustrator: Henriette Willebeek Le Mair (Saida)
Download or read book The Assassin s Song written by M.G. Vassanji and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2009-03-25 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the aftermath of the brutal violence that gripped western India in 2002, Karsan Dargawalla, heir to Pirbaag – the shrine of a mysterious, medieval sufi – begins to tell the story of his family. His tale opens in the 1960s: young Karsan is next in line after his father to assume lordship of the shrine, but he longs to be “just ordinary.” Despite his father's pleas, Karsan leaves home behind for Harvard, and, eventually, marriage and a career. Not until tragedy strikes, both in Karsan's adopted home in Canada and in Pirbaag, is he drawn back across thirty years of separation and silence to discover what, if anything, is left for him in India.
Download or read book The Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories written by Chinua Achebe and published by Heinemann. This book was released on 1992 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of 20 stories written between 1980-1991 which deal with themes relevant to various regions of Africa.
Download or read book Uhuru Street written by M.G. Vassanji and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2012-09-04 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the two-time winner of the Giller Prize for his novels The Book of Secrets and The In-Between World of Vikram Lall Uhuru Street is M.G. Vassanji’s stunning book of linked stories, set within the Asian community of Dar es Salaam. With delicate strokes, and with irony and humour, Vassanji brings alive the characters who live and work in the shops and tenements of Uhuru Street; among them: Roshan Mattress, so called because of her free and easy ways; a street-wise orphan fighting for survival; a Goan dressmaker who entertains her employers with local gossip; and a servant who opens up the world for the children in his charge, until he oversteps his bounds and has to leave. As the younger generation searches for a new destiny, and the older fiercely holds on to the past, Uhuru Street resonates with the moment of moving on, of leaving the place where we have roots, knowing that things will never be the same.
Download or read book Amriika written by M.G. Vassanji and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amriika is a novel of betrayal, disillusionment, and discovery set in America during three highly charged decades in the nation’s history. In the late sixties, Ramji, a student from Dar es Salaam, East Africa, arrives in an America far different from the one he dreamed about, one caught up in anti-war demonstrations, revolutionary lifestyles, and spiritual quests. As Ramji finds himself pulled by the tumultuous currents of those troubled times, he is swept up in events whose consequences will haunt him for years to come. Decades later in a changed America, having recently left a marriage and a suburban existence, an older Ramji, passionately in love, finds himself drawn into a set of circumstances which hold terrifying reminders of the past and its unanswered questions.
Download or read book The Book of Secrets written by M.G. Vassanji and published by Picador. This book was released on 2015-12-29 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1988, a retired schoolteacher named Pius Fernandes receives an old diary found in the back room of an East African shop. Written in 1913 by a British colonial administrator, the diary captivates Fernandes, who begins to research the coded history he encounters in its terse, laconic entries. What he uncovers is a story of forbidden liaisons and simmering vengeances, family secrets and cultural exiles--a story that leads him on an investigative journey through his own past and Africa's.
Download or read book Magic Strikes written by Ilona Andrews and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-03-31 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When magic strikes and Atlanta goes to pieces, it’s a job for mercenary Kate Daniels in this thrilling novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series. Drafted into working for the Order of Merciful Aid, mercenary Kate Daniels has more paranormal problems than she knows what to do with these days. And in Atlanta, where magic comes and goes like the tide, that’s saying a lot. But when Kate's werewolf friend Derek is discovered nearly dead, she must confront her greatest challenge yet. As her investigation leads her to the Midnight Games—an invitation only, no holds barred, ultimate preternatural fighting tournament—she and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, uncover a dark plot that may forever alter the face of Atlanta's shapeshifting community...
Download or read book No New Land written by M.G. Vassanji and published by Emblem Editions. This book was released on 2012-09-04 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nurdin Lalani and his family, Asian immigrants from Africa, have come to the Toronto suburb of Don Mills only to find that the old world and its values pursue them. A genial orderly at a downtown hospital, he has been accused of sexually assaulting a girl. Although he is innocent, traditional propriety prompts him to question the purity of his own thoughts. Ultimately, his friendship with the enlightened Sushila offers him an alluring freedom from a past that haunts him, a marriage that has become routine, and from the trials of coping with teenage children. Introducing us to a cast of vividly drawn characters within this immigrant community, Vassanji is a keen observer of lives caught between one world and another.
Download or read book And Home Was Kariakoo written by M.G. Vassanji and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2016-01-26 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From M.G. Vassanji, two-time Scotiabank Giller Prize winner and a Governor General's Literary Award winner for Non-fiction, comes a poignant love letter to his birthplace and homeland, East Africa—a powerful and surprising portrait that only an insider could write. Part travelogue, part memoir, and part history-rarely-told, here is a powerful and timely portrait of a constantly evolving land. From a description of Zanzibar and its evolution to a visit to a slave-market town at Lake Tanganyika; from an encounter with a witchdoctor in an old coastal village to memories of his own childhood in the streets of Dar es Salaam and the suburbs of Nairobi, Vassanji combines brilliant prose, thoughtful and candid observation, and a lifetime of revisiting and reassessing the continent that molded him—and, as we discover when we follow the journeys that became this book, shapes him still.
Download or read book A Delhi Obsession written by M.G. Vassanji and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2020-08-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two-time Giller Prize winner M.G. Vassanji returns with a powerful new novel about grief and second chances, tradition and rebellion, set in vibrant present-day Delhi. Munir Khan, a recent widower from Toronto, on a whim decides to visit Delhi, the city of his forbears. Born in Kenya, he has lost all family connections, and has never visited India before. While sitting in the bar of the Delhi Recreational Club where he's staying, an attractive woman joins his table to await her husband. A sparring match ensues. The two are from different worlds: Munir is a westernized agnostic of Muslim origin; Mohini, a modern Hindu woman. Utterly witty and charming, she's religiously traditional, but also a liberal and provocative newspaper columnist. Against her better judgment, Mohini agrees to show Munir around the city. As they explore the thriving markets and historical buildings of Old Delhi, an inexplicable attraction begins. What follows is a passionate love affair--uncontrollable yet impossible. This is a period of rising Indian nationalism in modern India that at times finds outlet in senseless violence. Constantly lurking at Munir's Club is the menacing and foreboding presence of a fanatical nationalist group. To them Munir Khan is simply a Muslim "love-jihadi" who has led the pride of Hindu womanhood, Mohini Singh, astray. At what cost, their passion?
Download or read book A Court of Mist and Fury written by Sarah J. Maas and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 659 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The seductive and stunning #1 New York Times bestselling sequel to Sarah J. Maas's spellbinding A Court of Thorns and Roses. Feyre has undergone more trials than one human woman can carry in her heart. Though she's now been granted the powers and lifespan of the High Fae, she is haunted by her time Under the Mountain and the terrible deeds she performed to save the lives of Tamlin and his people. As her marriage to Tamlin approaches, Feyre's hollowness and nightmares consume her. She finds herself split into two different people: one who upholds her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court, and one who lives out her life in the Spring Court with Tamlin. While Feyre navigates a dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms. She might just be the key to stopping it, but only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future-and the future of a world in turmoil. Bestselling author Sarah J. Maas's masterful storytelling brings this second book in her dazzling, sexy, action-packed series to new heights.
Download or read book The Day Saida Arrived written by Susana Gómez Redondo and published by Blue Dot Kids Press. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What happens when a new friend arrives who doesn't speak the same language? A young girl searches for the words to help her friend feel welcome and happy in her new home, and along the way learns about differences and similarities in countries and words. The two girls forge a strong bond while they each learn the other's language, exploring the world around them. Told with wonderfully vivid illustrations, The Day Saida Arrived offers an accessible, fresh approach to the topics of immigration, language, and learning.
Download or read book State of Grace written by Joy Williams and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-04-13 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEE • This "beautifully crafted" (The New York Times Book Review), haunting, profoundly disquieting novel manages to be at once sparse and lush, to combine Biblical simplicity with Gothic intensity and strangeness. It is the story of Kate, despised by her mother, bound to her father by ties stronger and darker than blood. It is the story of her attempted escapes—in detached sexual encounters, at a Southern college populated by spoiled and perverse beauties, and in a doomed marriage to a man who cannot understand what she is running from. Witty, erotic, searing acute, State of Grace bears the inimitable stamp of one of our finest and most provocative writers.
Download or read book A Place Within written by M.G. Vassanji and published by Doubleday Canada. This book was released on 2009-03-18 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Globe and Mail Best Book The inimitable M.G. Vassanji turns his eye to India, the homeland of his ancestors, in this powerfully moving tale of family and country. Part travelogue, part history, A Place Within is M.G. Vassanji’s intelligent and beautifully written journey to explore where he belongs. It would take many lifetimes, it was said to me during my first visit, to see all of India. The desperation must have shown on my face to absorb and digest all I possibly could. This was not something I had articulated or resolved; and yet I recall an anxiety as I travelled the length and breadth of the country, senses raw to every new experience, that even in the distraction of a blink I might miss something profoundly significant. I was not born in India, nor were my parents; that might explain much in my expectation of that visit. Yet how many people go to the homeland of their grandparents with such a heartload of expectation and momentousness; such a desire to find themselves in everything they see? Is it only India that clings thus, to those who’ve forsaken it; is this why Indians in a foreign land seem always so desperate to seek each other out? What was India to me?
