Bombay was the city everyone came to in the early decades of the nineteenth century: among them, the Goans and the Mangaloreans. Looking for safe harbour, livelihood, and a new place to call home. Communities congregated around churches and markets, sharing lord and land with the native East Indians. The young among them were nudged on to the path of marriage, procreation and godliness, though noble intentions were often ambushed by errant love and plain and simple lust. As in the story of Annette and Benji (and Joe) or Michael and Merlyn (and Ellena). Lovers and haters, friends and family, married men and determined singles, churchgoers and abstainers, Bombay Balchão is a tangled tale of ordinary lives - of a woman who loses her husband to a dockyard explosion and turns to bootlegging, a teen romance that drowns like a paper boat, a social misfit rescued by his addiction to crosswords, a wife who tries to exorcise the spirit of her dead mother-in-law from her husband, a rebellious young woman who spurns true love for the abandonment of dance. Ordinary, except when seen through their own eyes.

When former party girl and society photographer Theophania Bogart flees to San Francisco to escape a high-profile family tragedy, a series of murders drags her unwillingly out of hiding. In no time at all she discovers she's been providing cover for a sophisticated smuggling operation, she starts to fall for an untrustworthy stranger, and she's knocked out, tied up and imprisoned. The police are sure she's lying. The smugglers are sure she knows too much. Her friends? They aren't sure what to believe. The body count is rising and Theo struggles to find the killer before she's the next victim or her new life is exposed as an elaborate fraud. But the more deeply entangled she becomes, the more her investigation is complicated by her best friend, who is one of her prime suspects; her young protégé, who may or may not have a juvie record; her stern and unyielding grandfather, who exposes an unexpected soft center; and the man on her washing machine, who isn't quite what he appears, either. Susan Cox's Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning novel is a charming debut with wacky, colorful characters and a delightfully twisted mystery.

Forsaking Paradise is a collection of stories that address and express the angst ridden dilemmas of modern Ladakhi society. Written by Abdul Ghani Sheikh, one of the foremost writers in Urdu in Ladakh today, these stories offer a glimpse into a world that has been highly romanticized but is grounded in reality.

An enchanting, magical novel set in a mysterious toyshop - perfect for fans of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, Stephanie Garber's Caraval and Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist. The Christmas Emporium opens with the first sign of frost . . . It is 1917, and while war wages across Europe, in the heart of London, there is a place of hope and enchantment. The Emporium sells toys that capture the imagination of children and adults alike: patchwork dogs that seem alive, toy boxes that are bigger on the inside, soldiers that can fight battles of their own. Into this family business comes young Cathy Wray, running away from a shameful past. The Emporium takes her in, makes her one of its own. But Cathy is about to discover that the Emporium has secrets of its own . . . Complete your collection with Paris by Starlight, the next novel from the author of the The Toymakers, out now ***** 'This vivid, haunting novel is both vast and intimate. A wonderful and thought-provoking read.' KATHERINE ARDEN, author of The Warm Hands of Ghosts Engaging and enchanting . . . A fairytale for adults, with all the wonder – and terror – that that entails.' GUARDIAN 'There is magic at the heart of The Toymakers, a glittery inventiveness that shimmers through the dark corners of a story about love, war and sibling rivalry.' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'I was gripped, and thrilled, and touched, and above all I was completely swept into the magic of the book . . . Just astonishing' ADAM ROBERTS, author of Jack Glass 'Anyone who’s ever stepped inside a traditional toyshop and marvelled at the wonders on display will instantly be captivated by this book' CULTUREFLY

Over two hundred recipes from one of the best coastal cuisines of India The spicy, succulent seafood of Goa is as famous as the golden beaches and lush landscape of this premier tourist destination of India. Traditionally, the Goan staple was fish curry and rice but under Portuguese influence there developed a distinctive cuisine that combined the flavours of Indian and European cooking, with local ingredients being used to approximate the authentic Portuguese taste. So fish and meat pies were baked with slit green chillies, assado or roast was cooked with cinnamon and peppercorns, pao or bread was fermented with toddy, and the famous baked bol was made with coconut and semolina. This innovated, largely non-vegetarian cuisine was offset by the traditional and no less sumptuous vegetarian creations from the Konkan coastland, rich with coconut and spice. The Penguin Essential Cookbooks are a pioneering attempt to keep alive the art of traditional Indian cooking. Each of the books is written by an expert chef who brings together the special recipes of a region or community along with a detailed introduction that describes the rituals and customs related to the eating and serving of food. A delicious mix of Portuguese and Konkani flavours, rich with coconut and spice. This cookbook showcases an entire range of Goan food, with special attention to fish, prawn, pork and chicken. The recipes include: Bebinca Goa Fish Curry Mutton Xacuti Oyster Patties Prawn Balchao Sorpotel Stuffed Crab Tiger Prawns in Fen Vindaloo.

What makes Mumbai "MUMBAI" is its people. With a diverse population influx each minute, every person here is a story by themselves. Along with being a personal account, each of them belongs to a collective narrative, falling into the compartments of the city's history. People Called Mumbai is a collection of 55 such stories, cutting across geography and from a wide cross-section of society, detailed with snippets in the hope of providing a re-reading of the city. The book dives into a sea of people, surfacing with wonderful tales; A photographer at Juhu Chowpatty who doubles up as a lifeguard, a businessman dealing in beads in Bhuleshwar who came to the city to fulfil his dreams, a stranded tourist now driving horse carriages, a Bollywood duplicate, a migrant who runs the city's only Tibetan restaurant, and many more. We often zoom past people, landmarks, places, with little thought that they could hold within them beautiful accounts of their lives. Pausing, listening and reflecting, People Called Mumbai is a compilation of many such unforgettable accounts.

BOOKS. BOMBAY. ROMANCE.When her estranged father passes away, Fiza, fresh out of college, discovers that he has left her a tidy sum in the hope that she will open a bookshop... Overnight, Fiza's placid life is thrown into a whirl of decor decisions and book-buying sprees, unconventional staff and colourful patrons, small pleasures and little heartbreaks, as the store -- Paper Moon -- begins to take shape in a charming, old Bandra mansion. To top it all, she is being wooed by Iqbal, a mysterious customer who frequents the shop, and Dhruv, her ex-boyfriend, her feelings for whom are still confused. Can Fiza take charge of her life, reconcile with the past, and reach for everything that is hers?