A deal has been struck between two men in India—twenty-one hundred rupees in exchange for a young village woman named Rekha. Sent to Calcutta without knowing why, Rekha finds herself in the confines of a brothel with Jamuna, a prostitute and madam, who is resigned to her trade. In these conditions, Rekha must shape her destiny and find inner liberty.

Set in Calcutta, Pyaasa tells the story of Chaya, an eleven-year-old untouchable who dreams of nothing more than learning her times tables. When Chaya's mother begs a woman from a higher caste to give Chaya a job at a local tea stall, Chaya's journey from childhood to adulthood begins and ends over ten days. A moving and heartfelt play, Pyaasa illustrates with subtlety and nuanced truth the inequalities and injustices that persist through the Indian caste system.I...

In the vibrant heart of Toronto’s Gerrard India Bazaar, Dilpreet and his daughters, Jasmeet and Simran, are frantically preparing to open their new sari shop in time for Canada Day. While Jasmeet prepares designs for the store’s logo and signs, she is also preparing for her high-school prom. Meanwhile, Simran anxiously awaits her LSAT scores that will grant her access to the best law schools in the country. Amidst the flurry of activity, Simran experiences a mental-health crisis, threateni...

When young orphans Mala and Chun Chun encounter brothers Prakash and Ojha on the busy streets of Kolkata, they are immediately at odds. The brothers come from a lower-middle-class family and spend their time flying kites instead of attending class, while Mala and Chun Chun can only dream of going to school, a goal Aunty promises will be fulfilled if they beg for money from passersby. After a petty fruit-stall heist lands Ojha in Aunty’s cunning hands, the brothers are blackmailed into begg...

A spirited Indian woman falls in love with a writer she's never met, refusing all other suitors. When he appears, he's nothing like she'd dreamed. Her life with him is hell; his vanity and treachery nearly destroy her. She begins an affair with a handsome teacher, threatening her family's honor. Rashida's story unfolds against a sweeping backdrop of Indian history.

A young bride in a village in India obediently marries the man her parents have chosen for her. When she arrives in her new husband's village, she is soon face-to-face with what her future will look like. Her brother-in-law stares at her with hunger, an elder aunt berates her and allows her no joy, and her husband has a job in the far-away city of Bombay.What she doesn't know yet, however, is that she has a gift. A gift that will help her navigate this new life with ease and power....

The Bride from India is a story of the ambitions and confl icts of the people from different cultures as they melt in the US pot. Manjit and Raj Pandher are Indian immigrants living in Houston, Texas. They succeed in marrying their son, Paul to Simmi from Punjab, after an elaborate Indian arranged matrimonial process, completely oblivious to the surprise awaiting them. On the other hand, the concept of the life in America that Simmi had developed in her mind from TV and internet is not wha...

**A courageous young woman finds herself in a world of deception, danger, and human trafficking in this riveting story of human survival.“Gritty, realistic, and eye-opening.”—Booklist“Chillingly credible and unflinchingly revealed.”—Kirkus Reviews**When the American Dream becomes a nightmare . . .Ever since her parents were killed and her beloved uncle vanished, Hannah has struggled to support herself and her grandmother. So when s...

Abandoned by her parents, Sameem Ali spent six and a half years growing up in a children's home. When she was told that her family wanted to take her back she couldn't wait to start her new life with them. Instead, she returned to a dirty house where she was subjected to endless chores. Her mother began to beat her and her unhappiness drove her to self-harm. So Sameem was excited when she boarded a plane with her mother to visit Pakistan for the first time. It was only after they arrived i...

A courageous and timely novel, Tears of Mehndi explores the rich, complex and often heartbreaking lives of a tight-knit community in Vancouver’s Little India. Through the perspectives of several women whose lives intertwine over a generation, Raminder Sidhu deftly exposes the shrouded violence within the Indo-Canadian community, a difficult and often dissembled subject. Sidhu’s characters are women caught between two cultures, struggling to understand the traditions they are oblig...

Major-General Farhan Al-Balawi is a loyal soldier in the Saudi Arabian army who dotes on his beloved daughter, Maryam, his pride in her learning and independent spirit sharpened by the death of his elder son and his estrangement from the younger who has opted to pursue a hedonistic western lifestyle in the USA. Despite the love she shares with her family, her respect for her father, the pride she takes in her Arabian heritage and her loyalty to Islam, Maryam yearns for travel and the opportun...

A girl trapped by the colour of her skin. A politician desperate to regain power. A family ripped apart.16-year-old Pullamma, with her dark skin, has resigned herself to a limited future in her remote South Indian village. For this reason, she’s obliged her old-fashioned grandmother by not doing well in school. She’s also resigned to remaining unwed. For with three girls in the family, there’s simply not enough dowry to go around.Soon a wedding alliance arr...