fiction

BOOK REVIEW: FICTION / Betwixt and between: Tales from a Nepali-Indian girlhood

Ravindra's prose is brisk, smooth, and detailed, with numerous stories from traditional Nepali and Hindu folklore chipped in, adding layers as the story unfolds.

#Fiction / It doesn’t rain in Shukhno Gram

In dry, forgotten Shukhno Gram, a station master’s dull routine shifts when a runaway bride in blue arrives. Their unexpected bond, painted with longing, art, and fleeting rain, transforms solitude into a moment of magic.

FICTION / The importance of being imperfect

Now, an automated metro-rail glides silently through the city. Conversations have become clipped, calculated. Efficiency replaces spontaneity. They call it peace. Rahim calls it absence.

FICTION / The thief

Farid Shaheb earned a fair bit at the office today. These days, because of the Anti Corruption Commission and newspaper journalists’ incessant pestering, he can no longer directly take the money offered to him.

Fiction / When they look away

“Do you think they think about us?” Asgar muttered.

Hair

I love the texture of your hair and I wanted to tell you about it in far too many words than either you or I are comfortable with.

Book review: Fiction / A tapestry of traditions, joy, and growth

Beyond the celebration of Eid, this book also explores themes of love, loss, and the grief of spending a special occasion without a loved one.

Tangerines and marmalades

I stared at the row of pre-peeled and packaged tangerines sealed tightly under plastic wrap.

FICTION / The heart remains a stone that does not skip through water

You tell me stories of the sea—of its waves, of how it speaks to you in a language only you can understand—whenever you write back to me.

October 23, 2022
October 23, 2022

5 new books we recommend this week

When you go to a book-store, it is often difficult to choose from the plethora of newly released books available. The following list should help when deciding what new books to buy.

October 21, 2022
October 21, 2022

Post-SSC musings: Books that helped me navigate my vacation

Despite the regret I felt for not studying them with honest academic interest, the goal of having to go through those academic books did provide me a sense of purpose. However, now that exams were over, I realised that I had to replace those mundane books with more fascinating ones.

October 16, 2022
October 16, 2022

How ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ mirrors the social media age

To me, Wilde’s novel articulates the deepest anxieties of the late Victorians and continues to offer us ways to interpret our own experiences.

October 15, 2022
October 15, 2022

Love, fate, and age-old curses: 'The Book of Magic' by Alice Hoffman

The familial bond portrayed in the novel makes it easy to sympathise with the characters and they rarely seem woven in a piece of fiction; rather, their attributes are more lifelike and one may just find someone like Franny or Gillian Owens among their kith and kin.

October 13, 2022
October 13, 2022

The Emerald Stone is Maisun’s confident foray into the world of fiction

Is the debut novel for Umme Maisun, Bangladesh's youngest online educator.

October 12, 2022
October 12, 2022

Clifton Beach

A strange experience by the sea-shore.

September 26, 2022
September 26, 2022

Hilary Mantel gave richness to historical fiction

She wrote with vitality, a realness that seemed somewhat dangerous on paper. 

September 22, 2022
September 22, 2022

July Belongs to Misery

"Are you happy?" June asks Lazmere.

September 15, 2022
September 15, 2022

All that matters

The office started to clear out once the overhead clock struck five.

September 10, 2022
September 10, 2022

For fans of 'The God of Small Things', an Ammu-shaped hole in the universe

As a reader, this classic novel will always remain in my heart as a symbol of courage, love, loss and above all, a symbol of enchantment.