Before the 1857 Uprising of India, the old Delhi, or Shahjahanabad is sprawling with life—like an ode wavering towards its end. The inhabitants of Red Fort and the splendored world around it, all subjects of Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, lived on the cusp of a change with the arrival of the British. Yet, people’s own stories continued against backdrop of this transition. At the centre of this sprawling narrative is a princess, Falak Ara, daughter of the Emperor. Beautiful and vivacious, Falak Ara is curious about the world outside the fort but never imagines being able to leave. Soon, she loses her heart to a salatin—a prince— and longs for a union with him. Her quest is made difficult by a changing Shahjahanabad, on whose horizon lurks a revolution. Author Rana Safvi unspools the aches of a young heart as she pays homage to Old Delhi—which, like a living, breathing being, has many moods and survives a lifetime in this novel A Firestorm in Paradise.

"The definitive firsthand account of California's Camp Fire-the nation's deadliest wildfire in a century-and a riveting examination of what went wrong and how to avert future tragedies as the climate crisis unfolds ... A cautionary tale for a new era of megafires, Paradise is the gripping story of a town wiped off the map and the determination of its people to rise again"--

California continues to be ravaged by devastating wildfires. Lauren Tarshis's heart-pounding story tells of two children who battle the terrifying flames and -- despite the destruction -- find hope in the ashes. The people of Northern California were used to living with the threat of wildfires. But nothing could have prepared them for the devastating 2018 fire season, the deadliest in 100 years and the most destructive in history.In the 20th I Survived book, readers join eleven-year-old Josh as he leaves his New Jersey home for the rural northern California town where his cousins live. Still reeling from the life-changing challenges that propelled him and his mother across the country, Josh struggles to adapt to a more rustic, down-to-earth lifestyle that couldn't be more different from the one he is used to.Josh and his cousin bond over tacos and reptiles and jokes, but on a trip into the nearby forest, they suddenly find themselves in the path of a fast-moving firestorm, a super-heated monster that will soon lay waste to millions of acres of wilderness and -- possibly -- their town. Josh needs to confront the family issues burning him up inside, but first he'll have to survive the flames blazing all around him.

A revelatory, urgent narrative with national implications, exploring the decline of California’s largest utility company that led to countless wildfires — including the one that destroyed the town of Paradise – and the human cost of infrastructure failure Pacific Gas and Electric was a legacy company built by innovators and visionaries, establishing California as a desirable home and economic powerhouse. In California Burning, Wall Street Journal reporter and Pulitzer finalist Katherine Blunt examines how that legacy fell apart—unraveling a long history of deadly failures in which Pacific Gas and Electric endangered millions of Northern Californians, through criminal neglect of its infrastructure. As PG&E prioritized profits and politics, power lines went unchecked—until a rusted hook purchased for 56 cents in 1921 split in two, sparking the deadliest wildfire in California history. Beginning with PG&E’s public reckoning after the Paradise fire, Blunt chronicles the evolution of PG&E’s shareholder base, from innovators who built some of California's first long-distance power lines to aggressive investors keen on reaping dividends. Following key players through pivotal decisions and legal battles, California Burning reveals the forces that shaped the plight of PG&E: deregulation and market-gaming led by Enron Corp., an unyielding push for renewable energy, and a swift increase in wildfire risk throughout the West, while regulators and lawmakers pushed their own agendas. California Burning is a deeply reported, character-driven narrative, the story of a disaster expanding into a much bigger exploration of accountability. It’s an American tragedy that serves as a cautionary tale for utilities across the nation—especially as climate change makes aging infrastructure more vulnerable, with potentially fatal consequences.

Prepare yourself for the paradise prophecy. Then pray it isn’t happening. An iconic, near saintly, pop singer dies suddenly, tragically in an inexplicable fire. She’s only the first victim in a series of similar, unspeakable deaths. Bernadette Callahan is an investigator at a shadowy government organization. She’s on the trail of a serial killer with ungodly means of disposal. Religious historian Sebastian LaLaurie knows that the crimes are more than the work of a psychopath, and that Bernadette is closing in on something she never bargained for. Now Sebastian must convince Bernadette to believe—in the power of fallen angels in disguise. In the ancient clues of the Bible. In the hellfire of a coming apocalypse. In the prophecies of Paradise Lost. And ultimately, in the unholy conspiracy upon them, one far beyond the scope of mankind’s darkest imagination. And one that no human can stop.

Describes how the first settlers in California changed the brown landscape there by creating groves, wooded suburbs and landscaped cities through planting eucalypts in the lowlands, citrus colonies in the south and palms in Los Angeles.

The harrowing story of the most destructive American wildfire in a century. On November 8, 2018, the ferocious Camp Fire razed nearly every home in Paradise, California, and killed at least 85 people. Journalists Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano reported on Paradise from the day the fire began and conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews with residents, firefighters and police, and scientific experts. Fire in Paradise is their dramatic narrative of the disaster and an unforgettable story of an American town at the forefront of the climate emergency.