Nirip on the cusp of fifty is not happy with his life. His father is an ogre and his mother a witch. He is not happy with that either. His sort of half-sister is a sort of half-man. A really close relative turns out to be a serial killer. He is not happy sleeping with his chauffeur's wife. Neither is she. Then, for his amusement, his father arranges a cricket match between rival dacoit teams in which some of the players are shot dead. Who could be happy in such circumstances? Days before his fiftieth birthday, with Nirip still wondering whether he should go ahead and have himself kidnapped so that he can make some money, he discovers, most unexpectedly, that he is not the biological child of his parents. Witty, macabre, sad, cruel, unforgivingly insightful, Fairy Tales at Fifty is part adventure tale, part nightmare, part acid trip---and throughout a triumph of fiction.

Classic Treasury Fairy Tales is a beautifully illustrated fairy tales book for kids aged 7-10 years. Packed with classic fairy tales and short stories for kids to enjoy again and again, inspiring a love of fables. # Beautiful illustrations draw in children, encouraging them to want to read the story and find out more. # With 384 pages of stories, all kids will find tales to interest them. # Ideal for shared bedtime reading with your child and independent readers to enjoy alone. Synopsis - Product details Classic Treasury Fairy Tales contains famous fairy tales by renowned storytellers such as the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, with imaginative artwork on every page. Kids will learn traditional morals by entering a timeless world of daring deeds, where gallant heroes fight evil villains and good conquers evil. Chapters and stories inside Classic Treasury Fairy Tales: # Witches and Warlocks chapter includes The Wicked Witch of the West, adapted from The Wonderful Wizard Oz by L Frank Baum # Daring Deeds chapter includes The History of Jack the Giant-Killer, from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book # Monsters and Mischief chapter includes The Ogre of Rashomon, from Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki # Tricks and Mishaps chapter includes The Devil and his Grandmother by the Brothers Grimm # Bad Beasties chapter includes Beauty and the Beast, from Europa's Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs An extract from The Devil and his Grandmother: But the dragon was no other than the Devil. He gave them a small whip and said, "Whip with it and crack it, and then as much gold will spring up round about as you can wish for. Then you can live like great lords, keep horses, and drive your carriages, but when the seven years have come to an end, you are my property." Then he put in front of them a book that they were all three forced to sign.

Agastya Sen, known to friends by the English name August, is a child of the Indian elite. His friends go to Yale and Harvard. August himself has just landed a prize government job. The job takes him to Madna, “the hottest town in India,” deep in the sticks. There he finds himself surrounded by incompetents and cranks, time wasters, bureaucrats, and crazies. What to do? Get stoned, shirk work, collapse in the heat, stare at the ceiling. Dealing with the locals turns out to be a lot easier for August than living with himself. English, August is a comic masterpiece from contemporary India. Like A Confederacy of Dunces and The Catcher in the Rye, it is both an inspired and hilarious satire and a timeless story of self-discovery.

*National Bestseller* The acclaimed retelling of the world’s best-loved fairy tales by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Golden Compass and The Book of Dust—now in paperback, and with 3 new tales! Two centuries ago, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published their first volume of fairy tales. Since then, such stories as “Cinderella,” “Snow White,” “Rapunzel,” and “Hansel and Gretel” have become deeply woven into the Western imagination. Now Philip Pullman, the New York Times bestselling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, makes us fall in love all over again with the immortal tales of the Brothers Grimm. Here are Pullman’s fifty favorites—a wide-ranging selection that includes the most popular stories as well as lesser-known treasures like “The Three Snake Leaves,” “Godfather Death,” and “The Girl with No Hands”—alongside his personal commentaries on each story’s sources, variations, and everlasting appeal. Suffused with romance and villainy, danger and wit, Pullman’s beguiling retellings will cast a spell on readers of all ages. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Thirty-seven fairy tales from Norway.

Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin, first published in 1896, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.

A beautiful hardback treasury, containing over fifty fairy tales from around the world, introduced by award-winning author Michael Morpurgo. The perfect gift for fairy tale lovers of all ages. This glorious collection contains much-loved favourites from Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, such as The Little Mermaid, Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretel, alongside lesser known fairy tales, such as the Chinese story of Bayberry, who rescues his sister, Little Red, from a devious dragon. Bringing together amazing stories from across the world, there are tales of witches from Russia, tree ghosts from India, magical moon spirits from Japan and many more. Fully illustrated throughout, with beautiful colour and line-work images from iconic Golden Age illustrators, including Arthur Rackham, Walter Crane and Warwick Goble. A sumptuous 480 page gift hardback, complete with a foiled cut-through cover, gold foiled edges and a ribbon marker, The Macmillan Fairy Tales Collection is a book to share and treasure. Macmillan has been publishing children’s books for over 175 years. Drawing on Macmillan’s rich historical archive, The Macmillan Fairy Tales Collection contains stories and artwork from treasuries first published in the 1800s and early 1900s. Plus an informative section about some of the authors and artists behind those original collections.