{"title":"Short Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eBig ideas in small packages. Our Short Stories collection gathers the most compelling and inventive short fiction ever written — perfect for stolen moments, long commutes, or anyone who wants a complete world in a single sitting.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-eleventh-hour","title":"The Eleventh Hour","description":"\u003cp\u003eRushdie turns his extraordinary imagination to life’s final act with a quintet of stories that span the three countries in which he has made his work―India, England, and the US―and feature an unforgettable cast of characters.“In the South” introduces a pair of quarrelsome old men―Junior and Senior―and their private tragedy at a moment of national calamity. In “The Musician of Kahani”, a musical prodigy from the Mumbai neighborhood featured in Midnight’s Children uses her magical gifts to wreak devastation on the wealthy family she marries into. In “Late”, the ghost of a Cambridge don enlists the help of a lonely student to enact revenge upon the tormentor of his lifetime. “Oklahoma” plunges a young writer into a web of deceit and lies as he tries to figure out whether his mentor killed himself or faked his own death. And “The Old Man in the Piazza” is a powerful parable for our times about freedom of speech.Do we accommodate ourselves to death, or rail against it? Do we spend our “eleventh hour” in serenity or in rage? And how do we achieve fulfillment with our lives if we don’t know the end of our own stories? The Eleventh Hour ponders life and death, legacy and identity with the penetrating insight and boundless imagination that have made Salman Rushdie one of the most celebrated writers of our time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":46035389251641,"sku":"9780143476955","price":809.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81GgH5Om7RL._SL1500_e6762710-45ee-4dd4-935c-69bdd18c8dc7.jpg?v=1782812585"},{"product_id":"mrs-funnybones-returns","title":"Mrs Funnybones Returns","description":"\u003cp\u003eMrs Funnybones is back – juggling kids, in-laws, menopause, work and the state of the nation with her trademark wit. Along the way she ruminates on why women shouldn’t murder their husbands and whether size really matters. Laugh out loud funny, full of delicious wisdom – the one and only Mrs Funnybones is thankfully here with us again!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035391152185,"sku":"9789353456207","price":359.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/817IKCtuNxL._SL1500_ecd42ff3-d058-41e4-8dc8-607f120681b1.jpg?v=1782812602"},{"product_id":"tell-me-a-story","title":"Tell Me a Story","description":"\u003cp\u003eThere is always a story that changed your life ... And that is the time when life happened for you! Tell Me a Story is a collection of heart-warming stories about events and incidents that have affected or changed the lives of the writers in ways that they cannot forget. Happy or sad, inspiring or shocking, these are stories of moments that have left an indelible mark on their lives. Stories that they would love to share. Edited by Ravinder Singh, Tell Me a Story is about the moments that make life worth living. This is the second such anthology, after the highly successful Love Stories That Touched My Heart.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035443023929,"sku":"9780143423010","price":269.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71ligJV91jL._SL1500_d5a582ca-c858-4ab8-8f3b-763b02551b8a.jpg?v=1782812785"},{"product_id":"night-in-the-hills","title":"Night in the Hills","description":"\u003cp\u003eA Night in the Hills is rich with human stories of grief, passion, loneliness, first love and emotions that defy explanation. One feels as if these people have moved in and out of their lives at some point in time. Whether it is the young love of Raju in A Bunch of Old Letters, or the exploration of intimacy between Inder and Roshni in a hospital in Tragedy, or a lost love in Itti and Uday, one finds oneself absorbed in the palpability of their existence. You feel as if you’ve have met A Copy Artist who’s not only lost all sense of reality, but also insists it all be seen through his lens. The Swallow creates a world where very different people are brought together and yet they share a bond.Full of sensitive moments of hope and despair, togetherness and separation, A Night in the Hills carries tales that you can dip into and savour.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035478872121,"sku":"9780143473961","price":359.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/61FsGHBuK3L._SL1500.jpg?v=1782812935"},{"product_id":"mrs-funnybones-shes-just-like-you-and-a-lot-like-me","title":"Mrs Funnybones: She's Just Like You and a Lot Like Me","description":"\u003cp\u003eGood morning, it's 6 a.m. and I am wide awake because the man of the house has decided that he needs to perform a series of complex manoeuvres that involve him balancing on his left elbow. When I fell asleep last night, there was a baby lying next to me. Her smelly diaper is still wedged on my head but aside from this rather damp clue, I can't seem to find her anywhere. I could ask my mother-in-law if she has seen the baby, but she may just tell me that I need to fast on alternate Mondays, and God will deliver the baby back to me . . .Full of wit and delicious observations, Mrs Funnybones captures the life of the modern Indian woman-a woman who organizes dinner each evening, even as she goes to work all day, who runs her own life but has to listen to her Mummyji, who worries about her weight and the state of the country. Based on Twinkle Khanna's super-hit column, Mrs Funnybones marks the debut of one of our funniest, most original voices.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":46035479822393,"sku":"9780143474777","price":449.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81KBeholHaL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782812936"},{"product_id":"the-sky-husband","title":"The Sky Husband","description":"\u003cp\u003eA young woman dreams of her future husband and prepares for their wedding, despite never having met him in real life. An elderly man recalls a long-forgotten encounter with a mystical forest spirit. The death of a friend rekindles memories of a couple's days in the revolutionary movement. Bani and Liam, two kindred souls, face numerous obstacles as they strive to be together in two separate tales. Aunty Nima and Uncle Ben's love story stands as a timeless testament to enduring affection. Easterine Kire's stories are gentle yet profound, offering deep insights into the human condition. With a keen eye for detail, she captures the myriad hues of the human spirit. Exemplifying the storytelling tradition she belongs to, this collection features slice-of-life narratives and tales, painting a vivid picture of the region's rich cultural tapestry.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035514359865,"sku":"9780143476221","price":315.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/61LB1jFxrZL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782813082"},{"product_id":"matriarchs-cows-and-epic-villains-new-and-selected-fables-and-poems","title":"Matriarchs, Cows and Epic Villains: New and Selected Fables and Poems","description":"\u003cp\u003eSuniti Namjoshi’s compelling tales range from metamorphosed cows to ruling mothers, from talking donkeys to epic villains. In this substantial collection are fables old and new, lyric poems and epigrams, novella narratives and ironic commentary. We also complete the Ravana trilogy with Shupi’s Choices and Kumbh, with villainous siblings who are sometimes ridiculous, but ready to show up for own shortcomings.Matriarchs, Cows and Epic Villains is a curation of Suniti's work where she continues to raise questions about how we deal with our destiny as human beings while at the same time trying to understand and confront our inadequacies.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035516555321,"sku":"9788194253396","price":449.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71GLsFzJxhL._SL1500_8178d3c3-8bd4-4a06-9889-6d5be3db46ad.jpg?v=1782813116"},{"product_id":"songs-our-bodies-sing-a-heartfelt-collection-of-stories","title":"Songs Our Bodies Sing: a Heartfelt Collection of Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eA heartbroken father in London turns to the Beatles to make sense of what he has lost. An antique dealer in Bombay rejects jingoism in favour of racism. Two immigrants in Toronto look for ways of belonging with a local rock band. And, in Paris, a tourist rejects long-held ideas about trust.The East and West have clashed in innumerable ways since each first acknowledged the existence of the other. The stories of Songs Our Bodies Sing are set at these points of intersection. What they reveal are commonalities rather than differences, with protagonists on opposite sides of an imaginary divide, trapped in boxes of their own making.This collection pulls back a curtain ever so slightly, in ways that are strange yet tender, to show how our struggles to understand the human condition are the same, wherever we are.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":46035516620857,"sku":"9780670098347","price":449.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/818X_f0zKiL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782813117"},{"product_id":"common-yet-uncommon-14-memorable-stories-from-daily-life","title":"Common Yet Uncommon: 14 Memorable Stories From Daily Life","description":"\u003cp\u003eMeet these people: Bundle Bindu, so named because he likes his truth with a little embellishment, Jayant the shopkeeper who doesn't make any profit, and Lunchbox Nalini, Sudha Murty herself, who brings her empty lunchbox-to be filled with food-wherever she goes!Written in Sudha Murty's inimitable style, Common Yet Uncommon is a heartwarming picture of everyday life and the foibles and quirks of ordinary people. In the fourteen tales that make up the collection, Sudha Murty delves into memories of childhood, life in her hometown and the people she's crossed paths with. These and the other characters who populate the pages of this book do not possess wealth or fame. They are unpolished and outspoken, transparent and magnanimous.Their stories are tales of unvarnished humans, with faults and big hearts.Testament to the unique parlance of a small town, Common Yet Uncommon speaks a universal language of what it means to be human.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":46035525468217,"sku":"9780143464617","price":449.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81_w0Y8sWTL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782813240"},{"product_id":"the-view-from-here-stories-and-poems-of-many-indias","title":"The View From Here: Stories and Poems of Many Indias","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe erudite Kannada scholar and critic D. R. Nagaraj wrote, “To read fiction is to know the fate of a society through its metaphors. But quite often literature consciously takes upon itself the responsibility of exploring the state and fate of this society…” This is precisely what the stories in this collection do: they may speak of past and present, but really it is the future—that we fear and dream of and hope for—that we want to speak and hear about. And these sto-ries we share, most through the gift of translation, live through their meta-phors; the metaphors the writers and translators hold in their hands like bless-ings—or timely curses…’ Githa Hariharan, from her Introduction, ‘At the Pace of a Thousand Storms’ ‘Can poetry be political? … The poems in this anthology tell us without doubt or apprehension: “Yes, poetically political if not politically political.” And as we finish reading these poems, we realize that politics and poetry, in their real spirit, are two ways of telling the truth, and have been engaged—and continue to engage—in an endless conversation.’K. Satchidanandan, from his Introduction, ‘Poetically Political’ During the seven years of its existence, from 2015 to 2022, the multilingual journal of culture Guftugu resolutely asserted India's diversity against the at-tempt to force fit the country into a single mould. Selected from the twenty-two published issues of Guftugu, The View from Here arms us with prose and verse that bear powerful witness to the many Indias, past and present. Twenty stunning stories and more than fifty memorable poems are, together, unflinch-ing in their insistence on diversity, dissent and, most of all, equality.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035592970297,"sku":"9789390343911","price":539.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71P06giuJIL._SL1500_7f3d1c55-3e3e-4d3f-9d0e-deb33b523087.jpg?v=1782813309"},{"product_id":"the-world-with-its-mouth-open","title":"The World With Its Mouth Open","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn eleven stories, The World With Its Mouth Open maps the inner lives of the people of Kashmir as they walk the uncertain terrain of their days, fractured from years of war. From a shopkeeper’s encounter with a mannequin, to an expectant mother walking on a precarious road, to a young boy wavering between dreams and reality, to two dogs wandering the city, these stories weave in larger, devastating themes of loss, grief, violence, longing, and injustice with the threads of smaller, everyday realities that confront the characters’ lives in profound ways. Although the stories circle the darker aspects of life, they are―at the same time―an attempt to run into life, into humor, into beauty, into another person who can offer refuge, if momentarily.Zahid Rafiq's The World With Its Mouth Open is a powerful collection announcing the arrival of a new voice that bears witness to the human condition with nuance, heart, humor, and incredible insight.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":46035608010809,"sku":"9780143472049","price":449.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/61ZZihfJ4LL._SL1500_41d76062-e748-49b5-8f25-c37065455a8e.jpg?v=1782813322"},{"product_id":"thank-you-for-leaving-learning-to-be-okay-with-saying-goodbye","title":"Thank You for Leaving: Learning to Be Okay With Saying Goodbye","description":"\u003cp\u003eDear reader,I wrote this book for the ones who feel everything too deeply. The rare souls who still listen to their hearts and believe in love. The ones who don’t hurt others just because they’re in pain. The ones who wear their hearts on their sleeves and carry kindness within. The ones who overthink, over-invest in people and over-love, always.This book is an ocean full of feelings, so if at any point, you feel like you’re drowning, take a moment to remind yourself that it’s a privilege to feel emotions as intensely as you do. Some people are so disconnected from their hearts that they don’t allow themselves to feel anything at all.That being said, I wish you a happy reading. This book will make you cry.Love,Rithvik\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035608633401,"sku":"9780143474050","price":269.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71yVxy7knHL._SL1500_006d0d53-c488-4d09-acd2-44c13b97239d.jpg?v=1782813322"},{"product_id":"on-the-brink-of-belief-queer-writing-from-south-asia","title":"On the Brink of Belief: Queer Writing from South Asia","description":"\u003cp\u003eDjinns linger in homes, an Assamese grandmother says. Peculiar cousins haunt Kashmiri family trees. Redemption for Shaitan is found on a bathroom floor in Lahore. In Dhaka, questions hang heavy in a police cell. Farewell emails offer closure to a relationship set against the backdrop of the decriminalization bill in Sri Lanka. And in a quiet kitchen somewhere in Nepal, memories still glow like flames. In this collection, twenty-four LGBTQIA+ writers from South Asia and beyond, conjure worlds where the borders between myth and memory, flesh and spirit, fact and belief dissolve.This collection is a first-of-its-kind portal into the charged space where queerness meets faith. Building on the cultural histories of South Asia, these stories are brought to you as flash fiction, memoir, poetry, fragments and conversations, gathering voices that are at once intimate, fiercely authentic and defiant. Together, they rewrite what it means to belong and believe, offering readers not answers but revelations.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035625082937,"sku":"9780143475002","price":449.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71NZ9TNd07L._SL1500_0737874a-31de-4deb-bc1d-fe83aa95cb8e.jpg?v=1782813446"},{"product_id":"appetite","title":"Appetite","description":"\u003cp\u003eA vivid collection of voices from Goa, Appetite: New Writing from Goa explores the tangled web of human desire in its various manifestations and the deeply rooted traditions that define (a form of) Goan identity today.From stories of late-night feasts gone awry in bustling family living rooms, to poems that trace lustful longing and essays that reflect on diaspora and in-migration, each piece captures what it feels like to truly yearn. The anthology moves effortlessly between the intimate and the expansive, from the salty tang of the sea and the delicate twang of a rebec to the inner landscapes of complex characters wrestling with love, loss, sexuality and identity.Rooted in the state’s history yet alive to its present, Appetite is a heartfelt tribute to Goa itself―its salt-washed shores, spice-laden air, delectable cuisine and the unquenchable appetite that pulses at the heart of the land and its people. The Goa Writers invite readers to savour not only the stories told, but the world that makes them possible.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035625836601,"sku":"9780143478348","price":449.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81_0ecwYSWL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782813459"},{"product_id":"the-hachette-anthology-of-humorous-indian-writing","title":"The Hachette Anthology of Humorous Indian Writing","description":"\u003cp\u003eFeaturing writing by Shashi Tharoor, Kiran Desai, Jug Suraiya, Sukumar Ray and more of India's best-loved writers.Laughter comes in many languagesA desi tadka of fun, this collection brings together some of the best-known humorous writing from India. We peek into the oddities of governance, the absurdities of political situations, the circular comedy of debt and get-rich-quick schemes selling nothing, and the eternal hopes and exasperations of modern India and modern-ish Indians. Spanning regions and eras, The Hachette Anthology of Humorous Indian Writing will be sure to keep you chuckling through the day and at the oddest of moments!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":46035627704377,"sku":"9789357317580","price":899.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81_Paj2Wr1L._SL1500_1b3e2c03-67dc-44c7-aa67-9667eda63cc8.jpg?v=1782813493"},{"product_id":"never-a-long-story-love-loss-murder-more-a-collection-of-short-stories-english","title":"Never a Long Story: Love, Loss, Murder \u0026 More - a Collection of Short Stories (english)","description":"\u003cp\u003eA rebellious girl at a disastrous arranged marriage meeting. A small-time thief who stumbles into the world of big crime. An office worker ready to destroy his boss. A cop who plays the most dangerous game of all. Never a Long Story, is a collection of sharp, witty, and fast-paced tales of love, crime, betrayal, and human nature at its quirkiest. Each story grips you, surprises you — and stays with you.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035702972473,"sku":"9789373178172","price":269.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81ZUXVILydL._SL1500_611b69ec-3fe6-4520-9246-b458c785405a.jpg?v=1782813601"},{"product_id":"writing-from-the-solitary-an-anthology-of-loneliness","title":"Writing From the Solitary : an Anthology of Loneliness","description":"\u003cp\u003eWriting from the Solitary: An Anthology on Loneliness, edited by Priyanka Sarkar and Semeen Ali, collates twenty-three voices pondering over the feeling of loneliness. Featuring poems, essays, and short stories, the collection brings the daunting subject into the foreground: not as something that needs to be resolved, rather to be deliberated upon.It is often said that we are born alone and die alone. Yet, throughout life, most of us strive to challenge this reality by forming connections: through work, family and friendships. The pandemic, with its enforced isolation, brought the complexities of loneliness into sharp focus. For some, it turned out to be an ordeal. For others, however, this solitude was a blessing, offering relief from the pressures of socialisation and creating time and space to pursue personal passions. Writing from the Solitary captures the diverse experiences of loneliness, in a tapestry of voices from some of the most prominent writers and thinkers of our time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035711754297,"sku":"9788198907738","price":359.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/91DxUh-PYRL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782813612"},{"product_id":"all-that-we-carry-stories-across-place-and-time","title":"All That We Carry: Stories Across Place and Time","description":"\u003cp\u003eA young woman moves through her day under endless stares: commuters, office colleagues, clients, and even the cab driver’s rearview mirror. Every glance chips away at her sense of self. How far does the gaze travel? A woman fled her village twenty-seven years ago, determined to never look back. A lifetime later, she seeks to return to the place where first love and first loss shaped her future. What did she leave behind, and what survived? A young man is chased by armed rioters on the street. As they close in, he faces a choice: dignity or survival? And whatever he may choose: is it his dignity that is lost, or his identity? How do we hold onto who we are… when the world often demands that we be someone else? All that We Carry is a portrait of lives woven by pressure, choice, and the courage to break free. Richly layered and quietly arresting, the stories in this collection are sure to linger in the mind long after the last page is turned.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035781713977,"sku":"9789364116565","price":359.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/710cOSybZSL._SL1360_1a2bfc26-8308-4eb3-aaa5-d7510f993d89.jpg?v=1782813851"},{"product_id":"brawler","title":"Brawler","description":"\u003cp\u003eTHE LATEST SHORT STORY COLLECTION FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF MATRIX'Brawler captures a towering talent.'FINANCIAL TIMES'Groff conjures a whole world in each brilliant story.' CLAIRE FULLER'You'll walk away feeling more connected to other people and with more compassion for yourself.' HARPER'S BAZAAR'Groff reminds us of the myriad human galaxies around us, spinning off brightly into the dark.'MELISSA HARRISONRanging from the 1950s to the present day and moving across age, class, and region - from New England to Florida to California - these nine stories reflect and expand upon a single shared theme: the ceaseless battle between the dark and light in all of us.Among those caught in this match are a young woman suddenly responsible for her disabled sibling; a hot-tempered high school swimmer in need of an adult; a mother blinded by the loss of her family; and a banking scion endowed with a different kind of inheritance. Motivated by love, impeded by human fallibility, they try to do the right thing for as long as they can.Precise, surprising and provocative, anchored by profound insight into human nature, Brawler reveals the repeated fracture points between love and fear, compassion and violence, reason and instinct, altruism and survival. It is a timeless, stunning achievement from one of the very best short story writers working today.Praise for Lauren Groff'Her writing has a timeless quality' The Times on The Vaster Wilds'Groff's writing is muscular and precise, her themes wildly resonant' Sunday Times on Matrix'An audacious piece of storytelling, full of passion, wisdom and magic' Sarah Waters on Matrix'It's as brightly lit as an illuminated manuscript' Naomi Alderman on Matrix'One of its stories is a bracing read; together they form a masterpiece' Stylist on Florida'She's a writer whose turn of phrase can stop you in your tracks' Financial Times on Florida'Easily the year's best story collection' Vogue on Florida\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035793739833,"sku":"9781529152890","price":809.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81IpuWBlyWL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782813918"},{"product_id":"collected-short-stories-70-brilliant-short-stories-from-a-face-in-dark-the-kitemaker-the-tunnel-the-room-of-many-colours-dust-on-the-mountain-and-times-stops-at-shamli","title":"Collected Short Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eRuskin Bond wrote his first short story, ‘Untouchable’, at the age of sixteen, and has written memorable fiction ever since. He is famous not only for his love of the hills, but for imbuing the countryside with life and vibrancy through moving descriptions. The simple people who inhabit his stories evoke sympathy and laughter in equal measure. This wonderful collection of seventy stories, including classics like ‘A Face in Dark’, ‘The Kitemaker’, ‘The Tunnel’, ‘The Room of Many Colours’, ‘Dust on the Mountain’ and ‘Times Stops at Shamli’, is a must-have for any bookshelf.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035808944185,"sku":"9780143426554","price":539.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81Dsdt4OQVL._SL1500_a8d59e12-9738-4029-9a65-feb4eb6dae79.jpg?v=1782813985"},{"product_id":"the-japanese-wife","title":"The Japanese Wife","description":"\u003cp\u003e'It's an improbable and hauntingly beautiful love story, almost surreal in its innocence. And I immediately knew that this was the film I had to make.' - Aparna SenAn Indian man writes to a Japanese woman. She writes back. The pen-friends fall in love and exchange their vows over letters, then live as man and wife without ever setting eyes on each other - their intimacy of words tested finally by life's miraculous upheavals.The twelve stories in this collection are about the unexpected. An American professor visits India with the purpose of committing suicide, and goes on a desert journey with the daughter of a snakecharmer. A honeymooning Indian couple is caught up in the Tiananmen Square unrest. A Russian prostitute discovers her roots in the company of Calcutta revolutionaries. A holocaust victim stands tall among strangers in a landscape of hate. These are chronicles of memory and dreams born at the crossroads of civilizations. They parade a cast of angels and demons rubbing shoulders with those whose lives are never quite as ordinary as they seem\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035811958841,"sku":"9780143469797","price":359.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81qlDhtdutL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782814018"},{"product_id":"under-the-banyan-tree-other-stories","title":"Under the Banyan Tree \u0026 Other Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eA delightful collection from India's foremost storyteller, Under the Banyan Tree adds twenty-eight tales of the rich and colorful heritage of R K Narayan's fictional south Indian city, Malgudi. Narayan's characters, observed with a wry and compassionate eye, come from every area of Indian society - merchants, beggars, herdsmen, hermits, teachers, rogues - and represent in miniature a wealth of human experience. A rebellious young man refuses to honour a vow made by his parents in an ancestral temple long ago in Nitya. A shopkeeper is made bankrupt by a charming stranger in A Career. In other tales, a schoolteacher indulges for one traumatic day in the luxury of telling the truth; a nervous small boy, forced to sleep alone to prove his courage, catches a burglar; a browbeaten clerk triumphs over his stars, and a ghost is laid to rest. Outstanding in this superb book is the masterpiece A Horse and Two Goats, drawn from a collection now no longer available, and the marvelous title story, about the divine gift of storytelling itself. Like the storyteller in Under the Banyan Tree, R K Narayan is an enchanter, a weaver of words who keeps his audience spellbound with the rhythms and haunting images of his tales. Drawn from the market-place, the mountainside, the dusty street, the river bank, these gentle, ironic, finely observed stories of village and city life demonstrate the power of fiction at its best.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035831193657,"sku":"9788185986142","price":203.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/717DlKCwx6L._SL1500_19343b92-7f89-4983-8b56-80700358842a.jpg?v=1782814068"},{"product_id":"arranged-marriage","title":"Arranged Marriage","description":"\u003cp\u003eA beautiful and poignant, award-winning collection which focuses on immigrants from India caught between two worlds. For the women brought to life in these stories, the possibility of change, of starting anew, is at once terrifying and filled with promise, like the ocean that separates them from their homes in India.For them, independence is a mixed blessing.It means walking the tightrope between old treasured beliefs and surprising newfound desires. From the story of a young bride whose fairy-tale vision of California is shattered when her husband is murdered, forcing her to face the future on her own, to a proud middle-aged divorcee determined to succeed in the new world, Divakaruni creates eleven unforgettable portraits of women on the verge of transformation.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035855769657,"sku":"9780552996693","price":449.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/61eEX2Xn_oL._SL1391_af6a5d11-6234-4938-810b-f7b7d4fdc94c.jpg?v=1782814137"},{"product_id":"panthers-moon-and-other-stories","title":"Panther\u0026apos;s Moon \u0026 Other Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eTen unforgettable tales of fascinating human encounters with animals and birds—of a man-eater that terrorizes an entire village; the strange and wonderful trust that develops between a fierce leopard and a boy; revengeful monkeys who never forgive a woman who grows dahlias; a crow who genuinely thinks human beings are stupid; and many others— that create a world in which men and wild creatures struggle to survive despite each other: a world where, in the end, one is not quite sure which side one is on. Panther’s Moon and Other Stories is another marvellous collection of stories from India’s most-loved author that will once again amuse, enchant, and delight readers of all ages.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035856883769,"sku":"9780143333937","price":225.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71Tj5a8DIKL._SL1500_c2a9142c-49f8-4a1c-a85c-930133f14d02.jpg?v=1782814145"},{"product_id":"the-best-of-urdu-short-stories","title":"The Best of Urdu Short Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eUrdu Literature has provided a scintillating treasure house of fiction beginning from the earliest novels like Umrao Jan Ada (1900) to Kai Chand the Sar-e Asman (2006). But it is in the genre of short story that Urdu literature truly shines with a galaxy of writers and rich narratives. In this rigorously curated and distinctive anthology, we bring to lovers of Urdu literature, the best of writers such as Premchand, Ismat Chughtai, Manto, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Intizar Husain, Hajra Masroor, to Khalid Jawed and Ali Akbar Natiq.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035865403449,"sku":"9780670096329","price":629.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71EdicJ3PmL._SL1500_729b7cbd-4322-4750-91b0-7eb0edd4f090.jpg?v=1782814196"},{"product_id":"hell-hath-no-fury","title":"Hell Hath No Fury","description":"\u003cp\u003eBe very afraid.Thirteen stories of revenge.These women are mad as hell, bloodthirsty. And they are coming for you. A sixty-something woman finds unexpected love; another abducts her nephew; a writer strikes a deal with the devil – each story bares its fangs. Startling, sinister and seductive, these women go after those who wronged them with a ferocious cunning, sometimes underhanded, sometimes operatic. A sisterhood of betrayed wives, beheaded princesses, the belittled and gaslighted... Hell Hath No Fury illuminates the electrifying space between love and hate.Contributors: *Robin McLean *Anil Menon *Catherine McNamara *Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan *Shinie Antony *Kiran Manral *Irenosen Okojie *Rudrakshi Bhattacharjee *Anuja Chandramouli *A.T. Boyle *Madhavi Mahadevan *Anukrti Upadhyay *Jahnavi Barua\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035865600057,"sku":"9789357315913","price":539.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81dRsSuHEiL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782814199"},{"product_id":"unaccustomed-earth","title":"Unaccustomed Earth","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe book, ‘Unaccustomed Earth’ is a collection of short stories which reveal the patterns and layers of human emotions and the complicated links of relationships. The stories in this book focus on the lives and issues of the Indian American community and their struggle to find the best of both cultures. The crisp narration and profound analysis of human emotions makes these stories engaging. The book has been written by Jhumpa Lahiri. The book won several awards including the famous literary award - the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award in the year 2008. This book was also featured on the list of 10 Best Books of 2008 complied by The New York Times. The first story in this book collection which is also the title of this book, \"Unaccustomed Earth” presents the diverse world views of various generations. This is a story which sheds light on the evaluation of gender in the American society. The second story talks about two individuals who come together due to a strong feeling of 'homesickness'. It also highlights the changing nature of human behaviour and how it often becomes difficult to judge a person. The third story reveals the hidden patterns of a relationship in marriage through the story of the couple Amit and Megan, who manage to celebrate their relationship even when things go south. The story of Hema and Kaushik follows a gripping narration and it has been segregated in three different parts. This is a story of how two individuals can stay together despite being different in their approach to life. The book talks about how these differences get them closer even after a break of many years. About the author Jhumpa Lahiri is a contemporary Indian American author, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and has received a nomination for the Man Booker Prize. She teaches at the Princeton University. The U.S. President Barack Obama included her in the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Some of her other famous works are Interpreter\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035887521849,"sku":"9788184000603","price":449.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/91x9vegeKmL._SL1500_341e88bf-17a5-4cf1-94d1-a28e28939902.jpg?v=1782814335"},{"product_id":"what-remains-after-a-fire-longlisted-for-the-dylan-thomas-prize-2026","title":"What Remains After a Fire - Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2026","description":"\u003cp\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2026A desperate wife, haunted by the ghost of her sister, is pushed to the brink of madness by her marriage to a man she does not love. A lonely woman becomes obsessed with a cloth worry doll as she tries to make sense of her existence. A young girl sifts through memories of her childhood with a maid who refused to be tamed. A father, who teaches his young son to shoot feral dogs, sets into motion devastating decisions that wreak havoc on his daughter and wife. What Remains After a Fire offers an unflinching, searing portrait of mothers and sisters, wives and daughters who are singed by life. Some emerge, phoenix-like, from the ashes; many learn quiet endurance; a few lurch towards complete erasure. Provocative, wise and tender, Kanza Javed's short story collection tells of women-united by their search for love and acceptance-in a world governed by men.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035892633657,"sku":"9789362132734","price":449.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81QiqUjv3tL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782814397"},{"product_id":"thick-as-thieves-tales-of-friendship","title":"Hick as Thieves","description":"\u003cp\u003eSomewhere in life there must be someone to take your hand and share the torrid daySome stories will make you smile, some will bring tears to your eyes and some may even make your heart skip a beat—but all of them will renew your faith in the power of friendship.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035909050425,"sku":"9780143332480","price":269.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71q1cclbl9L._SL1500_24f2c741-75ee-4b4f-a95d-532086f5e0d8.jpg?v=1782814527"},{"product_id":"the-owl-the-river-the-valley","title":"The Owl, the River, the Valley","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn Arupa Patangia Kalita’s stories, contemporary women in Assam take centerstage. The deeply lyrical and empathetic stories talk about issues like surrogacy, migration, living in a colonial legacy, employment, and history―all of which affect women in the region today.In Mitra Phukan’s nuanced translation, the region and its people come alive. A deeply compelling and satisfying collection for lovers of contemporary fiction, The Owl, the River, the Valley is a deeply compelling journey into Assam.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035923566649,"sku":"9780143466109","price":359.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81DrVQ3D_kL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782814610"},{"product_id":"romance-in-my-coffee","title":"Romance in My Coffee","description":"\u003cp\u003eROMANCE IN MY COFFEEInviting you to sip your coffee with the flavour of ROMANCE ...A lonely teenager hides from their classmates during prom.A girl has a crush she's embarrassed to admit to.A boy recalls the story of sharing a berth on a train.Every story is a love story, and there's a love story for everyone. This book contains ten voices, each inimitable and captivating, to create a formidable collection of stories that speaks to our one deep desire: to be loved.The In My Coffee anthology series will feature short stories on a variety of themes from romance to science fiction to humour to fantasy and much else. Each one perfect to mix in your coffee!ABOUT THE AUTHORS- Jerry Pinto lives and works and writes and thinks and translates and eats and drinks and runs and ruminates and loves and hates and sleeps and rises and dreams and does and undoes and shoves and pushes and waits and watches and hopes and laughs and edits and verbs his life away in the middle of a city with many names by a sullen and grey sea.Nisha Susan is the author of The Women Who Forgot to Invent Facebook and other stories. She is an editor and a translator. She always has homework and currently has exams.Andaleeb Wajid is a hybrid author, having published nearly 50 novels in the past 15 years. Andaleeb's YA novel Asmara's Summer was adapted for screen to become Dil, Dosti, Dilemma on Amazon Prime and other works are in the process of being optioned or adapted. Her YA novel, The Henna Start-up is the winner of the Neev Literature Festival Award 2024, Crossword Book Award 2024, and TOI Auther Award 2025.Anurag Banerjee (b. 1991) is an independent photographer based between his hometown, Shillong and Bombay. He self-published his first book I'mnot here in 2022 which explored the conundrum of belonging to two places at once. His following books The Songs of Our People-I \u0026amp; II looked at identity and belonging through the lives of musicians in Meghalaya.Riddhi Dastidar is a writer and reporter who live\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035925401657,"sku":"9789373075747","price":269.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71UGFqVcFaL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782814616"},{"product_id":"the-kashmiri-storyteller","title":"The Kashmiri Storyteller","description":"\u003cp\u003eRuskin Bond brings to life unforgettable folktales from the misty hills of Kashmir to delight and enchant his followers both young and old! As darkness falls outside, and the chill sets in, Javed Khan pulls at his hookah and begins his stories... When Kamal and his friends gather at Javed Khan s Kashmiri shop at Landour bazaar, he enthralls them with his stories of princes and kings, fairies and magical animals, supermen and cunning traders. Come, sit around the fire with Kamal, Shashi, Anil, Madhu and Vijay while they listen to Javed Khan s stories of the monkey bride, the man who got swallowed by a mosquito, the bent-up double beggar who angered a ghost, and many other tales from Kashmir and beyond.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035925794873,"sku":"9780143331568","price":449.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81Lesu1_8RL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782814621"},{"product_id":"malayali-memorial-and-other-stories","title":"Malayali Memorial: And Other Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe latest collection of Unni R’s short stories in translation shines with the tone of self-critique so characteristic of his earlier writing, gentle and penetrating at the same time. His world still comprises mostly the rural and peri-urban areas of Kottayam, his birthplace. It emerges through his words as a place with layers of life that lie beyond the merely human―the birds, animals, spirits, Jesus, Satan and even inanimate things have their role and place in it. The stories feature a whole range of situations and characters, who are forever assailed by an awareness of their own vulnerability. In ‘Malayali Memorial’, the protagonist is a low-lying, wily and seemingly powerless man in a stridently casteist family; the young man in ‘Boy and Girl’ is the weepy sort, yet his powerless tears seem to have the power to soften the resolve of a confident young woman. Further, this collection includes Unni’s experiments with the short story form. Overall, these stories break open the hardened shells of our existence, so that empathy and compassion may find their way out.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":46035933528121,"sku":"9780670099702","price":539.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71dLVQchdbL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782814675"},{"product_id":"a-blink-of-the-screen-collected-short-fiction","title":"A Blink of the Screen: Collected Short Fiction","description":"\u003cp\u003eA brilliant collection of short stories and short form fiction from the pen of Sir Terry Pratchett, one of the world's best-loved authors.'Clever, neatly constructed and funny … Pratchett is one of the great comic writers and storytellers of our time' GuardianA Blink of the Screen charts the course of Pratchett's long writing career: from his schooldays through to his first writing job on the Bucks Free Press; to the origins of his debut novel, The Carpet People; and on again to the dizzy mastery of the Discworld series.Here are characters both familiar and yet to be discovered; abandoned worlds and others still expanding; adventure, chickens, death, disco and, actually, some quite disturbing ideas about Christmas, all of it shot through with his inimitable brand of humour.With an introduction by Booker Prize-winning author A.S. Byatt and drawings by the author himself, this is a book to treasure.Front cover may vary.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035934904377,"sku":"9781804995877","price":629.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81AeaEK04-L._SL1500_9cfe230f-1058-4176-9b2f-9a698c990c2e.jpg?v=1782814687"},{"product_id":"tales-from-the-dawnlit-mountains-winner-of-the-ramnath-goenka-sahithya-samman-2025","title":"Tales From the Dawn-lit Mountains: Winner of the Ramnath Goenka Sahithya Samman 2025","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis book is an alluring escape to the land of dawn-lit mountains, Arunachal Pradesh. It features stories that are products of visceral observation and a delicate understanding of the ethnic communities living under intervening shadows of magic and realism in the isolated hinterlands of the state. A village is haunted by an insidious spirit tiger. A bee sting reminds a Nocte boy of his brother’s beheading and transforms him into a deadly headhunter. A Donyi-Polo priest must continue practising his animistic rituals to preserve the fading vestiges of his indigenous religion. The curse of a high priest follows the thief who stole the forbidden sacred ornaments . . . Such evocative and poignant tales make this debut collection a must-read.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035937624121,"sku":"9780143465959","price":359.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71HXlstOj2L._SL1500_31d602e5-d8b9-412d-8805-b2ce0829819e.jpg?v=1782814712"},{"product_id":"small-comfort","title":"Small Comfort","description":"\u003cp\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2026 'An exciting read.' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ READER REVIEW'I suspect that I will be thinking about some of these stories for a long time' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ READER REVIEW'An entertaining, thought-provoking piece of fiction' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ READER REVIEW'Such a fabulous read and a brilliant translation!!!' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ READER REVIEW_______'You know, love is love, he says. But what about the revolution?'Intricately built and wickedly humorous, these five interconnected short stories are all about one thing: money.From an interview with a child-star-turned-thief to the mysterious death of an employee at a drug manufacturer - or the couple feigning marital bliss to keep their inheritance, Ia Genberg carefully unravels the value we place on both money and people.What does it really mean to be in debt to someone? How does our financial worth permeate the ways we think and feel? And what do we lose when we supposedly win? Small Comfort skewers its characters, slyly implicating the reader along the way.A brilliantly original and thought-provoking collection from the author and translator of The Details, shortlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize.More praise for Small Comfort:'A delightful and exquisitely executed literary mini-study that brings to mind Joan Didion' - Expressen'Her humour and delight in language make the stories crackle with life' - Svenska Dagbladet'I haven't read anything better this year' - Sydsvenskan 'Genberg captures, with intelligence and insight, the afflictions of our time' - Göteborgs-PostePraise for Ia Genberg:'Miraculous' - Hernan Diaz, author of Trust'I wish I could write like this' - Fredrik Backman, author of A Man Called Ove'So good that I kept underlining passages so I could reread them later' - Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time 'Mesmerizing and hot to the touch' - Catherine Lacey, New York Times\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035946340409,"sku":"9781035433940","price":629.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71OT3bDSaQL._SL1500_7018908f-63a3-4372-9641-09b4bdd47155.jpg?v=1782814804"},{"product_id":"portraits-from-memory","title":"Portraits From Memory","description":"\u003cp\u003ePortraits from Memory brings together two collections of pen-portraits, Ateet ke Chalchitra (Moving Pictures of the Past, 1941) and Smriti ki Rekhayen (Lines of Memory, 1943), written by Mahadevi Varma, perhaps the greatest Hindi woman poet of the twentieth century and a magnificent writer of prose.The author tells the unforgettable life-stories of many people she knew. An agricultural labourer's little son who exchanges his clothes for a watermelon to present to his teacher; poverty-stricken women who support their families single-handed, hoping for an education in the next birth; an unskilful potter who, inspired by calendar art, manages to produce a beautiful image of Saraswati. One gets glimpses, too, of Mahadevi's own unusual life as a single woman who, in the early twentieth century, lived and travelled by herself, forging relationships across class, gender, age, nationality, occupation, and species.Translated into English by the inimitable Ruth Vanita, these sketches are a testament to the courage, generosity, dignity, and striking individuality of the unsung Indians who built modern India, a poignant tribute to those who have left an indelible imprint on our present.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035948109881,"sku":"9789369890903","price":359.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81OLtFHMQBL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782814822"},{"product_id":"the-best-american-short-stories-2025","title":"Best American Short Stories 2025","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Short stories can act like little tuning forks, helping us to clarify our own values,” writes guest editor Celeste Ng. “In a time when our values are being tested daily, it’s hard to think of anything more important.” The Best American Short Stories 2025 resonates precisely at this pitch: twenty pieces that upend expectations and test the foundation of our beliefs. From a bereaved medical actress obsessed with a student in her rotation to a mysterious sickness that ignites a lethal running mania in its victims, and from the grounds of a wild animal estate to a celebrity look-alike mother-for-hire, these stories transport readers to the impossible edges of our world and vivify characters who reflect the spectrum of human experience. THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2025 INCLUDES: LAUREN ACAMPORA • SARAH BRAUNSTEIN • BRET ANTHONY JOHNSTON • ELIZABETH McCRACKEN • CARRIE R. MOORE • ANDREW PORTER • WILLIAM PEI SHIH • JUSTIN TAYLOR • JESSICA TREADWAY • AND OTHERS\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035972882489,"sku":"9780063399808","price":539.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81d9hxRYgEL._SL1500_6f41b1c6-bbb3-4e40-bd64-005c53a153a1.jpg?v=1782815004"},{"product_id":"the-greatest-champak-stories-volume-2-easytoread-funfilled-collection-of-illustrated-stories-from-champak-magazine","title":"The Greatest Champak Stories: Volume 2: Easy-to-read, Fun-filled Collection of Illustrated Stories From Champak Magazine","description":"\u003cp\u003ePlay cricket with Shyam Singh the lion, take part in a sledge race, meet mysterious strangers, solve a curious case of stolen diamonds, make new friends and learn about lots more in this illustrated collectable edition of The Greatest Champak Stories: Volume 2.Packed with tales of mystery, adventure, friendship and humour, these unputdownable stories from the celebrated Champak magazine will entertain and delight. A must-have on every shelf, and a perfect gift for every young reader!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035980943417,"sku":"9780143473701","price":269.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71nvlYvWAbL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782815080"},{"product_id":"birds-in-flight","title":"Birds in Flight","description":"\u003cp\u003eCome, sit on these pages awhile to admire, ponder over, and sometimes get lost in the profound wisdom and hidden truths of these fleeting creations that Joginder Paul offers.Bird in Flight, a volume of afsanche (flash fiction) by Paul, brings to you another facet of his artistry. These micro stories are slices of life that have been transmuted into sparkling gems of creativity. With such constraint on the use of words and so much abandon in meaning making, the reader is sure to feel the expanse of the artist's vision captured consummately within the confines of the brevity of the microfiction form.Though known for his short stories and novels, Joginder Paul has been a pioneer of the afsanche form in Urdu literary writing. These short shorts are as much the reader’s as they are the author’s, and the translator’s, because they invite creative participation. And yet they have an autonomy that makes them experiences to be felt rather than narratives to be read―such is the genius of Paul’s musings.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035982450745,"sku":"9780143471622","price":359.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71CZBn2I5wL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782815093"},{"product_id":"loal-kashmir-love-and-longing-in-a-torn-land","title":"Loal Kashmir: Love and Longing in a Torn Land","description":"\u003cp\u003eA rare collection of stories of love, longing and loss from a region that has witnessed decades of conflict, Loal Kashmir seeks to answer the question: what happens when you cannot communicate your longing to your beloved? Loal, the Kashmiri word for love and affection, is the common thread running through all sixteen of these true-life narratives: Javed, on his way to show off his love letter to a friend, gets caught in a crackdown; newlywed Zara waits to be reunited with her husband in America, her visa application flagged indefinitely; Sagar and Aalmeen plan moments of stolen time during the uncertainty of militancy; Nadiya looks for Shahid from her window, coughing as caustic fumes of tear gas seep in; Khawar and Iqra struggle to reach each other when the abrogation of Article 370 leads to a shutdown across Kashmir.While the waves of discord in the Valley have been cemented in history, what has been rendered invisible are the lived experiences of its inhabitants. Loal Kashmir, by gathering the tenderest of Kashmir's tales--its accounts of love--attempts correcting this lapse.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035985563705,"sku":"9789373071312","price":449.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/91Yd9hATBSL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782815124"},{"product_id":"the-thing-around-your-neck","title":"The Thing Around Your Neck","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the Orange Prize-winning author of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ come twelve dazzling stories that turn a penetrating eye on the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Nigeria and the West.In 'A Private Experience', a medical student hides from a violent riot with a poor Muslim woman whose dignity and faith force her to confront the realities and fears she's been pushing away.In 'Tomorrow Is Too Far', a woman unlocks the devastating secret that surrounds her brother's death.The young mother at the centre of 'Imitation' finds her comfortable life threatened when she learns that her husband back in Lagos has moved his mistress into their home.And the title story depicts the choking loneliness of a Nigerian girl who moves to an America that turns out to be nothing like the country she expected; though falling in love brings her desires nearly within reach, a death in her homeland forces her to re-examine them.Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow and longing, this collection is a resounding confirmation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's prodigious storytelling powers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46035992215609,"sku":"9780007306213","price":495.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81c7PvxC97L._SL1500_e0d787c2-753b-40a6-b017-d6dca23f91eb.jpg?v=1782815178"},{"product_id":"selected-short-stories","title":"Selected Short Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eA masterclass in thought-provoking storytelling from one of the greatest literary voices of all time, Selected Short Stories brings together some of Rabindranath Tagore's most beloved tales, including 'The Postmaster', 'Cabuliwallah' and 'Master Mashai'. These deeply emotional stories, interwoven with the banalities of daily life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46036006240313,"sku":"9789369896417","price":224.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81OpY2FiD7L._SL1500.jpg?v=1782815287"},{"product_id":"wild-fictions-essays","title":"Wild Fictions: Essays","description":"\u003cp\u003eWild Fictions brings together Amitav Ghosh's extraordinary writings on subjects that have obsessed him over the last twenty-five years: literature and language; climate change and the environment; human lives, travel and discoveries. The spaces that we inhabit, and the manner in which we occupy them, is a constant thread throughout this striking and expansive collection.From the significance of the commodification of the clove to the diversity of the mangrove forests in Bengal and the radical fluidity of multilingualism, Wild Fictions is a powerful refutation of imperial violence, a fascinating exploration of the fictions we weave to absorb history, and a reminder of the importance of sensitivity and empathy.With the combination of moral passion, intellectual curiosity and literary elegance that defines his writing, Amitav Ghosh makes us understand the world in new, and urgent, ways. Together, the pieces in Wild Fictions chart a course that allows us to heal our relationships and restore the delicate balance with the volatile landscapes to which we all belong.**'We owe a great debt to Ghosh's brilliant mind, avenging pen and huge soul' --- Naomi Klein'Urgent, beautiful and far-reaching . . . it should be essential reading' --- The Times Literary Supplement on The Nutmeg's Curse'Consistently stimulating' --- The Guardian on The Great Derangement'He has surpassed many historians in his ability to synthesize a wealth of research with remarkable intellectual clarity' --- The Times on Smoke and Ashes\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":46036024459321,"sku":"9789365691009","price":719.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81B2DsElM3L._SL1500.jpg?v=1782815446"},{"product_id":"the-only-city","title":"Only City: Bombay in Eighteen Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eFinancial capital, cradle of Bollywood, home to India's largest slum―Bombay is a megalopolis with many associations. But the one that's especially significant is this: it is a place of stories. The Only City is a collection of eighteen new pieces of short fiction that captures the pulse of this always-morphing urban centre.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":46036045660217,"sku":"9789369893256","price":629.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71cg11IpdEL._SL1500_c39b031d-a8a1-44db-99bf-fa6e816e4fc0.jpg?v=1782815655"},{"product_id":"kalidasa-selected-poetry-and-drama","title":"Kalidasa: Selected Poetry and Drama","description":"\u003cp\u003eMani Rao's Kalidasa brings together a range of poetry and drama by the greatest poet and dramatist of Sanskrit literature and revitalizes them for the modern reader. Through her remarkable translations, Mani evokes in all its richness the vibrant montage of life in ancient India that Kalidasa depicted in his works: one replete with kings-queens-jesters-sages and abounding in romantic intrigues and promises, misunderstandings and betrayals; where humanity and nature intertwine, and characters negotiate their freedom within the framework of duty and destiny. She weaves into the renditions textual interludes for clarity, restores the names of personas otherwise denoted by their roles in the plays, and uses contemporary language to help the reader relate to the characters and contexts, while faithfully capturing the lyrical beauty in the texts in all its charm and intricacy. In doing so, she refreshes the tradition of Kalidasa's translations, and invites one and all to savour these absolute literary delights. In the end, as we enter the world of Kalidasa, his world too enters ours.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46036677984313,"sku":"9789369895205","price":539.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71yiAc2eCxL._SL1500_08ec931e-7bb5-47c4-95cf-e7d0f1966bac.jpg?v=1782816164"},{"product_id":"book-of-humour","title":"Ruskin Bond's Book of humour","description":"\u003cp\u003eA delectable offering from a writer who not only knows how to make us laugh but also knows how to laugh at himself Playful tigers; 'ghosts'; elephants; crows and old favourites like Uncle Ken; Miss Bun; the author's slightly eccentric grandfather and Bond himself weave in and out of the pages of this wildly eclectic; thoroughly delightful and absolutely irresistible anthology featuring previously unpublished pieces like 'Respect Your Breakfast' and 'Uncle Ken Goes to Sea' as well as beloved classics from Bond's books.Marked by the signature charm and subtle wit of one of India's best-loved writers; Ruskin Bond's Book of Humour; will make even the hardened among us crack a smile.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46036853882937,"sku":"9780143063438","price":269.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/91_931eYwyL._SL1500_101d4df9-7776-4eb5-972c-eab13095d272.jpg?v=1782816625"},{"product_id":"prose-and-cons","title":"Prose and Cons: The English Language in Just a Minute","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs fans of Just a Minute know, the key to the game is knowing your way around the English language: how it works, how it’s evolved, and how words connect, often in surprising ways. When it comes to the English language (and Just a Minute), Gyles Brandreth has seen it all – and now he’s ready to put you through your linguistic paces, to become a Just a Minute expert yourself.In this wildly entertaining A to Z of verbal acrobatics, Gyles takes you on a whirlwind tour of our mother tongue – from the origins of words and correct grammar and punctuation, to similes, euphemisms and record breaking tongue twisters (try getting your mouth around floccinaucinihilipification!). An idiosyncratic blend of history, word play, anecdote, and hyperbole, all in 60-second instalments, this is Gyles Brandreth at his word-perfect, Just-a-Minute best. You’ll never mix your metaphors again...\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46036871872569,"sku":"9781785946837","price":539.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71AK_9wJZ6L._SL1500.jpg?v=1782816816"},{"product_id":"soliloquies","title":"Soliloquies","description":"\u003cp\u003e20 books | 5 years | 1 pathbreaking collection'Soften the blow, God.'Adil Jussawalla's Soliloquies-written when he was barely eighteen-does what only the most ambitious of literary works can do: it grasps for the numinous.The protagonist Jian's struggle-marked by long hours of darkness and brief flickers of revelation, by perturbation and torment and then, a floodlight of perception-is intimate, yet epic in its sweep and animated with visions so bright, they sear.Soliloquies, written when Adil Jussawalla was barely eighteen, is a brilliant and precocious work that tests the powers and limits of language. Thayil Editions One carries, for the first time, this lost piece of Indian literary history, as well as a one-of-a-kind interview, detailing Jussawalla's youth and friendships, and the ten guineas he once borrowed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46036957495353,"sku":"9789369893621","price":359.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/81oFYKC1bYL._SL1500.jpg?v=1782817788"},{"product_id":"fruits-of-the-barren-tree","title":"Fruits of the Barren Tree","description":"\u003cp\u003eDarjeeling, late 1980s. The demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland has taken a violent turn. The Green Party is at war with the Red Party-and with the state's security forces. Murder, loot, terror and arson beset the Himalayan foothills.Fruits of the Barren Tree is a story of that time, and of Relling, a small village near Darjeeling. In Relling there's Basnet, the village shaman, and his wife; there's Jhuppay, their son-incorrigible thief, truant and amateur drunk; and also Nimma, Jhuppay's great love, whose only desire in life is that he take the path of virtue. There's Chyaatar too, former army man, now a militia commander in the Green Party, who rules the village with an iron hand. Ever the miscreant, nothing Jhuppay does can win Nimma's heart. But when the Red Party hires his loudspeaker for a meeting-the first innocent, honest job of his life-it sets Jhuppay, Nimma and Chyaatar on a murderous course that fate itself cannot derail.Originally published in Nepali as Phoolange, this sharp, evocative novel is the story of a failed movement and a cautionary tale of how easily the contagion of violence can infect a community. Intensely visual and imbued with a strong sense of place, it is equally a compelling portrait of Darjeeling away from the brochures and the postcards.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dusky's Shrine","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46037018181689,"sku":"9780143472452","price":359.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/files\/71KuhDUfy8L._SL1500.jpg?v=1782818532"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0795\/3367\/0457\/collections\/image_6eedf506-9f70-420b-866c-c3f0f72b9ceb.png?v=1778673005","url":"https:\/\/duskysshrine.com\/collections\/short-stories.oembed?page=3","provider":"Dusky's Shrine","version":"1.0","type":"link"}