Phiroze Elchidana, son of a Parsi priest, falls in love with Sepideh, daughter of an old khandhia, or corpse bearer. In order to marry her, he agrees to join the caste of untouchables that carried the corpses to the Towers of Silence in Bombay.

The aged and saintly master of Michaelhouse is to retire and Runham all but declares himself the new master. Unpopular though he is, his murder spurs Matthew Bartholomew into investigating the crime and several others like it.

This modernized extract from The Great Chronicle of London covers the reign of England's first Tudor king, Henry VII (1485-1509). It gives an eye-witness account of events in London, and of news from elsewhere, from the viewpoint of a well-to- do citizen who was closely involved in civic administration. It describes many notable public events: riots and uprisings, executions, coronations, royal marriages and funerals, and ceremonial activities involving the mayor and aldermen. Its year by year entries also cover matters like the weather, the cost of living, taxes, and the effects of building work undertaken in the city. Although its compiler worked to a scheme common to other London chronicles from the period, he was ready to express his own views on a number of matters, and wrote with keen observation and occasional wit.

Award-winning author Cyrus Mistry's first collection of short stories is dark, mysterious and inhabited by characters that walk a thin line between fantasy and reality. A serendipitous discovery on the floor of a local bus transforms the melancholic life of Percy, who meets a ghost in the washroom of a public library, a new mother struggling with depression and the urge to end her newborn's life opens the door to a stranger, stalked by mysterious men, Jacintha believes her enemies are out to eliminate her because she knows too much, on New Year's Eve, an aged couple clashes, replaying an annual ritual that shrouds the unacknowledged secret buried between them twenty-three years ago, two childhood friends, now co-workers at an advertising agency, indulge in a never-ending display of one-upmanship, false camaraderie and intense, unspoken resentment, Bokha tries to counter the powerful black magic of his wicked old mother in order to shield his helpless lover, and Mahendroo, full of himself, is consumed by his obsessive search for an elusive species of Passiflora. Original and disturbing, Passion Flower is another triumph from one of the country's most gifted storytellers.

Heavenly Intrigue is the fascinating, true account of the seventeenth-century collaboration between Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe that revolutionized our understanding of the universe–and ended in murder.One of history’s greatest geniuses, Kepler laid the foundations of modern physics with his revolutionary laws of planetary motion. But his beautiful mind was beset by demons. Born into poverty and abuse, half-blinded by smallpox, he festered with rage, resentment, and a longing for worldly fame. Brahe, his mentor, was a flamboyant aristocrat who had spent forty years mapping the heavens with unprecedented accuracy–but he refused to share his data with Kepler. With Brahe’s untimely death in Prague in 1601, rumors flew across Europe that he had been murdered. But it took twentieth-century forensics to uncover the poison in his remains, and the detective work of Joshua and Anne-Lee Gilder to identify the prime suspect–the ambitious, envy-ridden Kepler himself. A fast-paced, true-life account that reads like a thriller, Heavenly Intrigue is a remarkable feat of historical re-creation.

The nineteenth chronicle in the Matthew Bartholomew series. In the summer of 1358 Matthew Bartholomew finds himself one of a party of Bishop's Commissioners, sent north to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the Abbot of Peterborough. He and his colleagues quickly learn that behind the beautiful façade of the Benedictine monastery there is a vicious struggle for power, and that not everyone would be happy to see the prelate's safe return. This unrest and discontent seems to have spread throughout the town, and there are bitter rivalries between competing shrines and the financial benefits of the relics they hold. One of these shrines is dedicated to Lawrence de Oxforde, a robber and murderer who was executed for his crimes, but who has been venerated ever since miracles started occurring at his grave. But when Bartholomew and his friend Brother Michael go to investigate, they find murder instead... 'A first-rate treat for mystery lovers' (Historical Novels Review) 'Susanna Gregory has an extraordinary ability to conjure up a strong sense of time and place' (Choice)