Layered with evocative details, The Book
of Everlasting Things is the story of two new nations rendered violently apart
from each other, and two lovers’ fates entwined with the future of their
countries.
The novel shines in its feel of the marketplace, the community, and
the everyday people. The reader can clearly imagine the smells, visualize how
perfumers make magic happen, and how calligraphers capture beauty.
The Partition between India and Pakistan
is a painful memory for most South Asians. The author has handled it very
delicately while personifying the pain and loss for two sets of families from
the repercussions of that heart-rendering event.
FOR FANS OF ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, A LUSH, SWEEPING LOVE STORY ABOUT A HINDU PERFUMER AND A MUSLIM CALLIGRAPHER, SET AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF PARTITION
“Monumental…A far-reaching love story.” ―NPR (A Best Book of the Year)
On a January morning in 1938, Samir Vij first locks eyes with Firdaus Khan through the rows of perfume bottles in his family’s ittar shop in Lahore. Over the years that follow, the perfumer’s apprentice and calligrapher’s apprentice fall in love with their ancient crafts and with…
As the Great War draws closer, Peggy
takes pleasure in her role as a bookbinder, while keeping an eye on her twin
sister after her mother’s demise. She dreams of bigger things while keeping her
feet firmly planted on the ground through tragedy and setbacks. The war brings
upheaval in their town, and in their lives, upturning social structures and
hierarchies.
While Williams’ second book has a lovely
connection with her debut novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words, it is equally
entertaining and delightful while continuing the fascinating theme of the early
days of feminism.
The reader peeps into the rich and textured
daily lives of the sisters, their neighbors, their new refugee friends, and the
ones they tragically lose to the war and comes back with an orchestra of
experiences of the early Twentieth Century in Oxford.
A young British woman working in a book bindery gets a chance to pursue knowledge and love when World War I upends her life in this new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words.
“Williams spins an immersive and compelling tale, sweeping us back to the Oxford she painted so expertly in The Dictionary of Lost Words.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife
It is 1914, and as the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, women must keep the nation running. Two of those…
An American
Muslim is chosen blindly by a jury to design a memorial to the 9/11 victims,
opening it up to vociferous debates and dissensions, much like the Ground Zero
Mosque controversy.
The author uses
her vast experience as a New York Times journalist to eloquently describe the
warps and wefts of the fabric of New York society, and starts tugging at
several threads as it all unravels. The players’ tug-of-war is well portrayed
in rich texture, while the politicians’ intent on not letting a good crisis go
to waste adds satirical color to the expansive tapestry.
As a creator, one
feels that art has no religion and has no boundaries. The axiom is severely
tested in the face of rabid nationalism, parochial intolerance, and a media
free-for-all.
A jury gathers in Manhattan to select a memorial for the victims of a devastating terrorist attack. Their fraught deliberations complete, the jurors open the envelope containing the anonymous winner's name - and discover he is an American Muslim. Instantly they are cast into roiling debate about the claims of grief, the ambiguities of art, and the meaning of Islam.
The memorial's designer is Mohammad Khan, an enigmatic, ambitious architect. His fiercest defender on the jury is its sole widow, the mediagenic Claire Burwell. But when the news of his selection leaks to the press, Claire finds herself under pressure…
Roy Aron goes on a journey, physically and mentally, on
the fateful day of 9/11. He descends the bowels of hell, following in the
footsteps of Dante Alighieri, as he witnesses the nine sins. He comes upon
intriguing sagas showcasing the sins’ corroding powers. Accompany him through
the heart of darkness, live through the transformational incidents, and emerge
in the sunshine of hope.
Nine engrossing tales spanning multiple cities, persons,
and ages, are woven beautifully together with a common thread, linked to a
literary classic, in a fascinating approach. The sins, as well as human
character’s redeeming traits, are to be found every day all around us. The
narrative fluidly moves between the narrator's own musings and the stories
taking the reader along for a rollercoaster ride.
