Archive by Author

Deep in the Cambridgeshire fens is an old house by the name of Ninepins where lives Laura with her 12 years old asthmatic daughter, Beth. Laura rents out the pump house, once a fen drainage station to students every year to earn a little extra income. But this year she lets it to a girl named Willow on the recommendation of her social worker, Vince. Willow has a dubious past. Her childhood has been particularly disturbed as her mother, a hippy, had since been suffering from some bi polar disorder.…

Synopsis:
A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison Weir tells the story of two heroines, separated by time, but intriguingly linked by history’s most famous murder mystery.
Lady Katherine Grey has already suffered more than her fair share of tragedy. Eight years ago, her older sister, Lady Jane Grey was beheaded for unlawfully accepting a crown that was not hers. Now, in risking all for love, Katherine incurs the worth of her formidable cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, ho sees her as a rival for her insecure throne.
Interlaced with Katherine’s story is…

My tryst with reading novels based on Indian mythology started with books like ‘A Palace of Illusion’ by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Jaya by Devdutt Pattanaik. Soon many such books made to my to-read-list. One fine day, I sat searching for books based on Indian mythology that are available in the libraries here and the title that came up was ‘Prince of Ayodhya’ by Ashok K. Banker. Long back when I had written a post asking my fellow bloggers to suggest me good books by Indian writers, Vibha had suggested the…

The story is set in 1962, in a sleepy little village named Sehore in the state of Punjab. The main protagonist is a rebellious teenager who lives by his own rules. He detests any authority over him and does what his heart wills. Because of his audacious nature and dare-me-if-you-can attitude, he is labelled as a bad boy.

The novel is semi autobiographical in nature. It draws inspiration from the author’s cousin Leelu who disappeared mysteriously and died at a young age. This book is a tribute to him. Through…

I had bought this book from the library the day I spotted it on the shelves. Yet, it had been sitting on my shelves for quite a time before I picked up to read. Why? I was wary. It has happened quite many times that a book that has been winning rave reviews failed to make a strong impact on me. I have had the feeling of being on the wrong side so many times that I was darn skeptic to read it. But, I am proved so wrong. I…

Meet Gemma Merryfield, the in-charge of the “Puddleducks Playgroup”. The book starts with a typical day at the playgroup. There are anxious parents who worries whether their kids would be fine at the play school, there are late parents- who are never in time to drop their children at the play school and then there is a celebrity Mum who isn’t quite what she seems. And then there are these kids, some excited, some cranky and some shy and their 101 questions about everything they can think of, which Gemma…

 
Let me begin by saying, I loved the book.

Jeffrey Archer is a master story teller and in this book, he weaves a tale so unforgettable and as a reader you will be left yearning for more. Only Time Will Tell is a family saga that spans through generations. This the first part of a five volume series, rest of which will be published in the coming years. The main protagonist of this book is a man named Harry Clifton. Harry is introduced as a child, the son of…

This is the third book by the author, his first one being ‘The White Tiger’ which won the Man Booker Prize in 2008. I had read this award winning book sometime last year and had enjoyed it. Though ‘Last Man in Tower’ explores a story in similar lines, I cannot say the same about this book. No doubt, it is a very well written and a well researched story but there is something about it being so pessimistic, that it kind of creeps on you and leaves you devastated in…

When you pick up a book of an author you have previously read and enjoyed, your expectation from his new book automatically increases. I had high hopes from this book – Beatrice & Virgil by Yann Martel. The previous book by the author, Life of Pi is one of my favorite reads of all times. But, all my hopes with his new book came thrashing down as I turned pages after pages of the book with having a clue what the story is all about and then it came to…

After reading The Palace of Illusions last year, I was looking forward to read more of the the author’s work. That is why when I spotted this book in the library I picked it up. The Book – Arranged Marriage is a collection of short stories centering around Indian women. In most of the stories the protagonist is a woman with Indian roots, settled in America and the story is about her tumultuous journey of life where she is trying to strike a balance between her deep rooted Indian beliefs and modern…