The first collection of short stories are deeply personal in nature, all located in Mumbai- its folds and seams- which the writer has explored all his life. Familial bond or the lack of them, an intimate dekko at a media group's machinations, a close study of the Irani community which is fast vanishing in the metropolis, the underworld and the staggeringly bold new world of sexual relationships sparked by websites are just some of the narratives, with a twist in the tale. KHALID MOHAMED started as reviewer and co-editor, during his teenage years for close-up, a film society magazine. He reviewed television for The Economic Times basides contributing articles to The Illustrated Weekly of India and Femina. His writing has writing has also featured in India Today,The Indian Express, The Telegraph, the international film weekly Variety and in Sunday Observer, London. He was film critic for Mid-day, Senior Editor of DNA newspaper, and National Culture Editor and film critic for Hindustan Times. Currently, he is Consulting Editor to the Deccan Chronicle media group. He wrote the original stories and screenplays and also directed the films Fiza, Tehzeeb and Silsilaay . He debuted recently as a playwright and director of the stageplay Kennedy Bridge. His documentary The Last Irani Chai has been screened widely. His second documentary Smiles and Tears on Mumbai's street children is under post-production. Presently, he is writing his second stageplay and his first novel.

Written by best-selling author Miriam Cohen, A Daughter of Two Mothers is the incredible, true account of a handicapped widow's forced separation from her infant daughter, the years of longing and searching, the legal battle, and the subsequent destruction brought by the Nazis. Open this book and you will step into the world of a generation gone, of pre- and post-war Hungarian Jewry, as young Leichu moves between two communities and their divergent lifestyles. This is a gripping story of separation and reunion, of pure faith and acceptance of G-d's will, and of triumph over despair.

How far will a mother go to save her child? Ten years ago, Ruby Leander was a drifting nineteen-year-old who made a split-second decision at an Oklahoma rest stop. Fast forward nine years: Ruby and her daughter Lark live in New Mexico. Lark is a precocious, animal loving imp, and Ruby has built a family for them with a wonderful community of friends and her boyfriend of three years. Life is good. Until the day Ruby reads a magazine article about parents searching for an infant kidnapped by car-jackers. Then Ruby faces a choice no mother should have to make. A choice that will change both her and Lark's lives forever.

Somewhere in Africa, more than a million years ago, a line of apes began to rear their young differently than their Great Ape ancestors. From this new form of care came new ways of engaging and understanding each other. How such singular human capacities evolved, and how they have kept us alive for thousands of generations, is the mystery revealed in this bold and wide-ranging new vision of human emotional evolution. Mothers and Others finds the key in the primatologically unique length of human childhood. If the young were to survive in a world of scarce food, they needed to be cared for, not only by their mothers but also by siblings, aunts, fathers, friends—and, with any luck, grandmothers. Out of this complicated and contingent form of childrearing, Sarah Hrdy argues, came the human capacity for understanding others. Mothers and others teach us who will care, and who will not. From its opening vision of “apes on a plane”; to descriptions of baby care among marmosets, chimpanzees, wolves, and lions; to explanations about why men in hunter-gatherer societies hunt together, Mothers and Others is compellingly readable. But it is also an intricately knit argument that ever since the Pleistocene, it has taken a village to raise children—and how that gave our ancient ancestors the first push on the path toward becoming emotionally modern human beings.

The bonds they share with their children are intricate, fiercely protected and often tested by the vagaries of modern life. This engaging collection celebrates those relationships—lost, found, newly forged, made stronger by a boundless and relentless love. A Mother's Heart features three special women who contend with the trials and tribulations of motherhood—and find romance in unexpected ways. A single mom rediscovers a long-ago love with help from her young son and YouTube in "The Promise" by New York Times bestselling author Sharon Sala. A stressed-out executive lands on her birth mother's doorstep and falls for the guy next door in "You Belong to Me" by Isabel Sharpe. A journalist helping her adopted daughter trace her roots learns a lesson in romantic destiny in "A Daughter's Journey" by Linda Cardillo.

An advocate and son of same-gender parents recounts his famed address to the Iowa House of Representatives on civil unions, and describes his positive experiences of growing up in an alternative family in spite of prejudice.

"Gorgeously crafted stories." —Nancy Pearl (Book Lust) on Morning Edition, "Books for a Rainy Day" "My favorite thing about her is the wry, uncanny tenderness of her stories. She has the astonishing ability to put her finger on the sweet spot right between comedy and tragedy, that pinpoint that makes you catch your breath. You're not sure whether to laugh out loud or cry, and you end up doing both at once." —Dan Chaon "When I first read China Mountain Zhang many years ago, Maureen McHugh instantly became, as she has remained, one of my favorite writers. This collection is a welcome reminder of her power—they are resonant, wise, generous, sharp, transporting, and deeply, deeply moving. McHugh is enormously gifted; each of these stories is a gift." —Karen Joy Fowler "Wonderfully unpredictable stories, from the very funny to the very grim, by one of our best and bravest imaginative writers." —Ursula K. Le Guin "Enchanting, funny and fierce by turns —a wonderful collection!" —Mary Doria Russell * Story Prize finalist. * A Book Sense Notable Book. In her luminous, long-awaited debut collection, award-winning novelist Maureen F. McHugh wryly and delicately examines the impacts of social and technological shifts on families. Using beautiful, deceptively simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between generations. — A woman introduces her new lover to her late brother. — A teenager is interviewed about her peer group's attitudes toward sex and baby boomers. — A missing stepson sets a marriage on edge. — Anthropologists visiting an isolated outpost mission are threatened by nomadic raiders. McHugh's characters—her Alzheimers-afflicted parents or her smart and rebellious teenagers—are always recognizable: stubborn, human, and heartbreakingly real. This new trade paperback edition has added material for book clubs and reading groups, including an interview with the author, book club questions and suggestions, and a reprint of Maureen's fabulous essay, "The Evil Stepmother." Maureen F. McHugh has spent most of her life in Ohio, but has lived in New York City and, for a year, in Shijiazhuang, China. She is the author of four novels. Her first novel, China Mountain Zhang, won the Tiptree Award, and Nekropolis, was a Book Sense 76 pick and New York Times Editor's Choice.