From the award-winning author of Marriage of a Thousand Lies comes a brilliantly written, globe-spanning novel about identity, faith, family, and sexuality. In Tamil Nadu, India, a boy is born with blue skin. His father sets up an ashram, and the family makes a living off of the pilgrims who seek the child’s blessings and miracles, believing young Kalki to be the tenth human incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. In Kalki’s tenth year, he is confronted with three trials that will test his power and prove his divine status and, his father tells him, spread his fame worldwide. While he seems to pass them, Kalki begins to question his divinity. Over the next decade, his family unravels, and every relationship he relied on—father, mother, aunt, uncle, cousin—starts falling apart. Traveling from India to the underground rock scene of New York City, Blue-Skinned Gods explores ethnic, gender, and sexual identities, and spans continents and faiths, in an expansive and heartfelt look at the need for belief in our globally interconnected world.
Anthropologist and journalist Blank gives a new perspective to the 3,000-year-old Hindu classic, retelling the ancient tale while following the course of Rama's journey through present-day India and Sri Lanka.
“What a gorgeous, heartbreaking novel.”—Roxane Gay A necessary and exciting addition to both the Sri Lankan-American and LGBTQ canons, SJ Sindu's debut novel offers a moving and sharply rendered exploration of friendship, family, love, and loss. Lucky and her husband, Krishna, are gay. They present an illusion of marital bliss to their conservative Sri Lankan–American families, while each dates on the side. It’s not ideal, but for Lucky, it seems to be working. She goes out dancing, she drinks a bit, she makes ends meet by doing digital art on commission. But when Lucky’s grandmother has a nasty fall, Lucky returns to her childhood home and unexpectedly reconnects with her former best friend and first lover, Nisha, who is preparing for her own arranged wedding with a man she’s never met. As the connection between the two women is rekindled, Lucky tries to save Nisha from entering a marriage based on a lie. But does Nisha really want to be saved? And after a decade’s worth of lying, can Lucky break free of her own circumstances and build a new life? Is she willing to walk away from all that she values about her parents and community to live in a new truth? As Lucky—an outsider no matter what choices she makes—is pushed to the breaking point, Marriage of a Thousand Lies offers a vivid exploration of a life lived at a complex intersection of race, sexuality, and nationality. The result is a profoundly American debut novel shot through with humor and loss, a story of love, family, and the truths that define us all.
Vishnu -- Hinduism's most important and powerful deity -- is the great Preserver, vanquishing those who seek to destroy the balance of the universe. For his followers he is also the Creator and the Destroyer, the cause of all existence. His many traits are embodied in his impressive physical form, the weapons he carries, the goddesses who are his consorts, and the eagle Garuda, on whom he flies down from heaven. In Hindu legend, Vishnu descends to earth in many manifestations, known as avatars, to fight powerful demons and to save his devotees. The avatars range in form from Varaha the boar to Parashurama the Brahmin warrior, and in character from Narasimha the ferocious half-man half-lion, to Krishna the charismatic prince-cowherd. The legends of Vishnu have inspired some of the greatest art, literature, and ritual traditions in India. This catalogue examines the many faces of Vishnu and the ways that the god has been represented, from antiquity to the present. Essays by noted historians of South Asian art delve deeply into the regional and sectarian traditions of Vishnu worship in India. Illustrations and discussions of almost 200 works of art, in a wide range of media and borrowed from collections around the world, reveal the rich diversity of India's art and religious culture.
Stories about Krishna are told all over India, and his particular appeal is vividly captured by this collection. Krishna has always been a favourite with children, who have for centuries enjoyed the exciting and dramatic adventures of this brave and handsome young god. He was born to fight evil and help the good, but behaved too like any other child, being naughty and cheeky, and often getting into trouble. Krishna lived life on a grand scale, battling with demons and monsters of all kinds; yet he also stole butter and teased village girls. Marilyn Heeger's illustrations highlight the rich variety of events in the young god's life, and the stories will help children to understand the differences between good and evil. The rhythm and beauty of these tales will surely delight both young and old.
Eleven interlinked stories tell the tale of a boy coming of age in Kailua-Kona, a Hawaiian fishing village. Sonny Mendoza is a little different from the rest of the men in his family. Salisbury explores characters like Aunty Pearl, a full-blooded Hawaiian as regal as the queens of old; cool Jack, from L.A., who starts a gang and dares Sonny to be brave enough, cruel enough, to join; mysterious Melanie, who steals his heart; and Deeps, the shark hunter. But the most memorable character is the sea itself: inviting, unpredictable, deadly. Mendoza men are brave men, but Sonny's courage is of a different kind. Why can't he love and trust the water as the men of his family are meant to do?
Award-winning novelby Kirsty Eagar, author of Saltwater Vampires and Night Beach. Raw Blue was awardedthe 2010 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Young Adult Fiction prize. Readersof Tim Winton's Breathwill be drawn to Raw Blue, an achingly beautiful young adult novel set in Sydney's northern beaches.Winner of the 2010 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, it is a haunting storyabout finding your passion in life. Carly has dropped out of uni to spend her days surfing and her nights working as a cook in a Manly cafe. Surfing is the one thing she loves doing ... and the only thing that helps her stop thinking about what happened two years ago. Then she meets Ryan and Carly has to decide.Will shelet the past bury her? Orcan shelet go of her anger and shame, and find the courage to be happy? Check out Kirsty Eagar'swebsite at www.kirstyeagar.com,and read herblogto find out about her thoughts on books, writing, music, surfing, and finding inspiration, or visit betweenthelines.com.au -the destination for Young Adult books. Praise for Raw Blue: 'Kirsty Eagar's fearless Raw Blue, a story of regeneration set on Sydney's northern beaches, is much more than just a promising debut: this one delivers.' Australian Book Review Best Books of 2009: Critics' Choices 'Kirsty Eagar's first novel explores dark territory with skill and sensitivity.' The Age 'An emotionally rich and powerful first novel.' Canberra Times 'If you only read one book this year ... it should be Kirsty Eagar's Raw Blue one of those kept-me-up-all-night novels that stays in your bones and sings in your ears long after you've finished it. It wouldn't be out of place next to Tim Winton's Breath, except this is the ocean as healer, not as an object to be conquered, or the site of self-destruction, of risk. The images crackle, the lines are full of the poetry of observation, the story is searing, gutting, beautiful. This should be compulsory reading for all teenagers especially boys.' julialawrinson.livejournal.com 'This is a psychologically intense novel that involves even non-surfing readers in the release Carly feels when conquering the waves we empathise with her in the long battle between desire and fear on the path to self-acceptance.' Magpies 'I read this book feverishly, desperate for a happy ending, and afterwards found it difficult to get Carly and the men who ride into her life out of my mind.' Newcastle Herald '[a] very moving book It's dark subject matter, but Eagar makes it uplifting.' Sunday Territorian 'A memorable first book by a writer who gives an honest approach to what young adults face growing up and growing wiser.' Woman's Day Read of the Week
In this electrifying sequel to "The Rosary Girls," Philadelphia detectives Jessica Balzano and Kevin Byrne are on the trail of a maniacal killer, who is recreating Hollywoods most famous murder scenes and casting real-life victims.
When a troubled housewife awakens one morning as a tavernkeeper in the Roman frontier town of Carnuntum around 170 A.D., she must face plague and war in order to survive and prosper in her new life.
In the second title of The Troy Game series, love and revenge are set against the very fabric of time itself as a warrior waits for his opportunity to finish what was started centuries before.
