Abused and made a concubine by the evil Sheikh Faruq, Badra finds redemption and love in the strong arms of an English duke's last grandson. Original.

An epic, heart-wrenching story of a mother and daughter's journey to their destiny. Lotus Feet. He would give his daughter the dainty feet of a courtesan. This would enhance her beauty and her price, making her future shine like a new coin. He smiled to himself, pouring fresh tea. And it would stop her from running away... When the young concubine of an old farmer in rural China gives birth to a daughter called Li-Xia, or "Beautiful One," the child seems destined to become a concubine herself. Li refuses to submit to her fate, outwitting her father's orders to bind her feet and escaping the silk farm with an English sea captain. Li takes her first steps toward fulfilling her mother's dreams of becoming a scholar—but her final triumph must be left to her daughter, Su Sing, "Little Star," in a journey that will take her from remote mountain refuges to the perils of Hong Kong on the eve of World War II.

Amadi’s masterpiece of African literature captures village life and practices not yet touched by the white man. The novel’s beautiful, hardworking protagonist, Ihouma, is admired by all in her village. Yet those who express their love for her meet with mysterious tragedy, leaving her devastated. This enticing odyssey, where exemplary attributes go unrewarded and the boundaries between myth and reality are muted, outwits readers with unexpected twists that make them want to keep turning the page.

Set in a remote village in Eastern Nigeria, an area yet to be affected by European values and where society is orderly and predictable, the story concerns a woman "of great beauty and dignity" who inadvertently brings suffering and death to all her lovers. The novel portrays a society still ruled by traditional gods, offering a glimpse into the human relationships that such a society creates.

The Concubine's Daughter is a snapshot of a bygone era, depicting life in the British colony of Hong Kong in the fifties and sixties. It is the story Elizabeth Lee, beautiful, intelligent, and liberated, from the time she is a wide-eyed eighteen year-old studying English Literature at the University of Hong Kong, sharing girlish secrets with her two best friends, to her becoming an academic at the University, to just after her thirtieth birthday, when she leaves Hong Kong with her husband and young son for the US, frightened in part by the riots inspired by the Cultural Revolution taking place across the border in mainland China. After twenty years in the US she returns to Hong Kong in 1986, just ten years before China is to regain sovereignty over the colony. Educated in English Elizabeth is keenly aware of the conflict within herself between her love of certain aspects of Western culture and her Chinese heritage. Living in that period of the colony's history, and largely divorced from the cultural life of the Chinese mainland, she is conscious of a sense of isolation. Discriminatory attitudes and actions, whether based on gender, race, or language, are very much a fact of life in Hong Kong during this period. The subject matter is original. The narrative style is witty, mildly sarcastic, and humorous in places. The vivid depiction of social customs and manners and memorable characters from different strata of society contribute to make The Concubine's Daughter a book well worth reading.

Modern talented female students accidentally transmigrated and became the cowardly and useless direct descendant of the general's house. On top of that, there was a fierce and tyrannical concubine who could cover the sky with one hand, and a beautiful little sister who could look like a blooming flower with a heart like a scorpion. Fortunately, she had been reborn, and she was no longer the weak girl who had been bullied. His mother tried to scheme, bit back, and his sister framed him, sending him flying! And there was also that trashy Emperor who had nothing to do all day long to find trouble with. His grandaunt's fists were not for naught. If he provoked her, that would be too hasty. Huff!

Kaustav Chakraborty (PhD) is Assistant Professor, Department of English, Southfield (formerly Loreto) College, Darjeeling, West Bengal. He has authored one book and also edited a volume of critical essays. Dr. Chakraborty has contributed many articles in reputed national journals and anthologies. This edited volume on Indian Drama in English, including Indian plays in English translation, with contributions from experts specializing on the different playwrights, covers the works of major dramatists who have given a distinctive shape to this enormous mass of creative material. This comprehensive and well-researched text, in its second edition, continues to explore the major Indian playwrights in English. It encompasses works like Rabindranath Tagore’s Red Oleanders; Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court is in Session, Kanyadaan, The Vultures, and Kamala; Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana, Tughlaq, Naga Mandala, and The Fire and the Rain; Mahasweta Devi’s The Mother of 1084; Mahesh Dattani’s Final Solutions, Tara, Dance Like a Man, and Bravely Fought the Queen; Habib Tanvir’s Charandas Chor; Indira Parthasarathy’s Auranzeb; and Badal Sircar’s Evam Indrajit. The book focuses on different aspects of their plays and shows how the Indian Drama in English, while maintaining its relation with the tradition, has made bold innovations and fruitful experiments in terms of both thematic and technical excellence. New to This Edition The new edition incorporates two new essays on very popular plays of all times—one, Manipuri dramatist Ratan Thiyam’s Chakravyuh, and the second, Maharashtrian playwright, Mahesh Elkunchwar‘s Desire in the Rocks. The essays added give a panoramic view of the plays in succinct style and simple language. The book is intended for the undergraduate and postgraduate students of English literature. Besides, it will also be valuable for those who wish to delve deeper into the plays covered and analyzed in the text.