A Small Fortune
A Small Fortune

Author: Rosie Dastgir

Publisher: Penguin Group

Published: 2013-05-07

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 1594631514

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A smart debut novel that explores the complexities of cultural differences, family loyalties, and what is lost in translation. Harris, the patriarch of his large extended family in both England and Pakistan, has unexpectedly received a “small fortune” from his divorce settlement with an English woman. As a devout Muslim, Harris views this sum as a “burden of riches” that he must unload on someone else as quickly as possible. But deciding which relative to give it to proves to be a burden of its own, and soon he has promised it both to his extremely poor cousins in Pakistan and to his Westernized, college student daughter. In a rash bout of guilt and misunderstanding, Harris signs the entire sum away to the least deserving, most prosperous cousin of all, exacerbating a tricky web of familial debt and obligation on two sides of the world. With insight, affection, and a great gift for character and story, Rosie Dastgir immerses us in a rich, beautifully drawn immigrant community and a complex extended family. She considers the challenges between relatives of different cultural backgrounds, generations, and experiences—and the things they have to teach one another. A Small Fortune offers an affecting look at class, culture, and the heartbreak of misinterpretation.

A Small Fortune
A Small Fortune

Author: Rosie Dastgir

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2012-02-02

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 085738578X

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Harris Anwar is a British Pakistani proud of his Eastern heritage. In fact, it's fair to say he's proud, full stop: proud he installed his own central heating; proud of his swanky blue Citroën; even proud he's owned the same Hoover for over twenty years. The only thing rivalling his pride is his Muslim sense of responsibility and obligation. He longs to do well by those dearest to him. Whether it's his nineteen-year-old daughter, Alia, in London, his cousin Nawaz and his family, living on top of their burgeoning takeaway in Yorkshire, or his friends and family back in Pakistan, Harris feels compelled to put himself second in order to help. But there's a problem: Harris' best intentions always seem to breed the worst results. And so it's no surprise that, when he decides to use his divorce settlement for selfless ends, this small fortune brings a huge cost of its own.

A Small Fortune
A Small Fortune

Author: Rosie Dastgir

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2012-05-24

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1101585692

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An entertaining debut novel reminiscent of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth that explores the lives of an extended Pakistani family of immigrants in London—all with a gently humorous touch and fond but wry eye Harris, the presumed patriarch of his large extended family in both England and Pakistan, has unexpectedly received a “small fortune” from his divorce settlement with an English woman: £53,000. As a devout Muslim, Harris views this sum as a “burden of riches” that he must unload on someone else as quickly as possible. But deciding which relative to give it to proves to be a burden of its own, and soon he has promised it both to his extremely poor cousins in Pakistan and to his Westernized, college-student daughter. Then, in a rash bout of guilt and misunderstanding, Harris signs the entire sum away to the least deserving, most prosperous cousin of all. This solves none of his problems and creates many more, exacerbating a tricky web of familial debt and obligation on two sides of the world, until the younger generation steps in to help. With insight, affection, and a great gift for character and story, Dastgir immerses us in a rich, beautifully drawn immigrant community and complex extended family. She considers the challenges between relatives of different cultural backgrounds, generations, and experiences—and the things they have to teach one another. A Small Fortune offers an affectionate and affecting look at class, culture, and the heartbreak of misinterpretation.

Fortune Smiles
Fortune Smiles

Author: Adam Johnson

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2015-08-18

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0812997484

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The National Book Award–winning story collection from the author of The Orphan Master’s Son offers something rare in fiction: a new way of looking at the world. “MASTERFUL.”—The Washington Post “ENTRANCING.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “PERCEPTIVE AND BRAVE.”—The New York Times Throughout these six stories, Pulitzer Prize winner Adam Johnson delves deep into love and loss, natural disasters, the influence of technology, and how the political shapes the personal, giving voice to the perspectives we don’t often hear. In “Nirvana,” a programmer whose wife has a rare disease finds solace in a digital simulacrum of the president of the United States. In “Hurricanes Anonymous,” a young man searches for the mother of his son in a Louisiana devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “George Orwell Was a Friend of Mine” follows a former warden of a Stasi prison in East Germany who vehemently denies his past, even as pieces of it are delivered in packages to his door. And in the unforgettable title story, Johnson returns to his signature subject, North Korea, depicting two defectors from Pyongyang who are trying to adapt to their new lives in Seoul, while one cannot forget the woman he left behind. WINNER OF THE STORY PRIZE • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Miami Herald • San Francisco Chronicle • USA Today AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • NPR • Marie Claire • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • BuzzFeed • The Daily Beast • Los Angeles Magazine • The Independent • BookPage • Kirkus Reviews “Remarkable . . . Adam Johnson is one of America’s greatest living writers.”—The Huffington Post “Haunting, harrowing . . . Johnson’s writing is as rich in compassion as it is in invention, and that rare combination makes Fortune Smiles worth treasuring.”—USA Today “Fortune Smiles [blends] exotic scenarios, morally compromised characters, high-wire action, rigorously limber prose, dense thickets of emotion, and, most critically, our current techno-moment.”—The Boston Globe “Johnson’s boundary-pushing stories make for exhilarating reading.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Louisiana Longshot
Louisiana Longshot

Author: Jana DeLeon

Publisher: Jana DeLeon

Published: 2014-09-23

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 0985003707

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New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jana DeLeon brings you the Miss Fortune series. It was a hell of a long shot.... CIA assassin Fortune Redding is about to undertake her most difficult mission ever-in Sinful, Louisiana. With a leak at the CIA and a price placed on her head by one of the world's largest arms dealers, Fortune has to go off-grid, but she never expected to be this far out of her element. Posing as a former beauty queen turned librarian in a small bayou town seems worse than death to Fortune, but she's determined to fly below the radar until her boss finds the leak and puts the arms dealer out of play. Unfortunately, she hasn't even unpacked a suitcase before her newly inherited dog digs up a human bone in her backyard. Thrust into the middle of a bayou murder mystery, Fortune teams up with a couple of seemingly sweet old ladies whose looks completely belie their hold on the little town. To top things off, the handsome local deputy is asking her too many questions. If she's not careful, this investigation might blow her cover and get her killed. Armed with her considerable skills and a group of elderly ladies the locals dub The Geritol Mafia, Fortune has no choice but to solve the murder before it's too late. Louisiana Longshot is a humorous mystery set in the bayous of southern Louisiana. It has a cozy mystery feel and features a strong woman sleuth in a fish-out-of-water storyline. Louisiana Longshot is the first book in the Miss Fortune series and appeals to readers of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Louisiana Longshot is a free ebook at Google Play. "Southern wit at its best!" - NYT Bestselling author Gemma Halliday "Sinfully funny!" - NYT Bestselling author CC Hunter/Christie Craig “DeLeon is excellent at weaving comedy, suspense and spicy romance into one compelling story.” – RT Book Reviews “I don’t know where she comes up with this funny stuff, but I can’t wait to read the next book…” – Night Owl Reviews “Jana DeLeon has a breezy style with enough of a comic touch to leave you smiling.” – The Romance Reader “Son of a gun, we’re having fun in the bayou!” – Fresh Fiction “The quirky characters keep the action moving…” – Barbara Vey, Publisher’s Weekly Blogger To learn more about Jana and her books visit her at: http://janadeleon.com http://facebook.com/janadeleonauthor @JanaDeLeon

The Beneficiary
The Beneficiary

Author: Janny Scott

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2020-04-14

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0399185038

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A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR "[A] poignant addition to the literature of moneyed glamour and its inevitable tarnish and decay…like something out of Fitzgerald or Waugh."—The New Yorker A parable for the new age of inequality: part family history, part detective story, part history of a vanishing class, and a vividly compelling exploration of the degree to which an inheritance—financial, cultural, genetic—conspired in one person's self-destruction. Land, houses, and money tumbled from one generation to the next on the eight-hundred-acre estate built by Scott's investment banker great-grandfather on Philadelphia's Main Line. There was an obligation to protect it, a license to enjoy it, a duty to pass it on—but it was impossible to know in advance how all that extraordinary good fortune might influence the choices made over a lifetime. In this warmly felt tale of an American family's fortunes, journalist Janny Scott excavates the rarefied world that shaped her charming, unknowable father, Robert Montgomery Scott, and provides an incisive look at the weight of inheritance, the tenacity of addiction, and the power of buried secrets. Some beneficiaries flourished, like Scott's grandmother, Helen Hope Scott, a socialite and celebrated horsewoman said to have inspired Katherine Hepburn's character in the play and Academy Award-winning film The Philadelphia Story. For others, including the author's father, she concludes, the impact was more complex. Bringing her journalistic talents, light touch, and crystalline prose to this powerful story of a child's search to understand a parent's puzzling end, Scott also raises questions about our new Gilded Age. New fortunes are being amassed, new estates are being born. Does anyone wonder how it will all play out, one hundred years hence?

A Fortune for Your Disaster
A Fortune for Your Disaster

Author: Hanif Abdurraqib

Publisher: Tin House Books

Published: 2019-09-03

Total Pages: 108

ISBN-13: 1947793527

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“When an author’s unmitigated brilliance shows up on every page, it’s tempting to skip a description and just say, Read this! Such is the case with this breathlessly powerful, deceptively breezy book of poetry.” —Booklist, Starred Review In his much-anticipated follow-up to The Crown Ain't Worth Much, poet, essayist, biographer, and music critic Hanif Abdurraqib has written a book of poems about how one rebuilds oneself after a heartbreak, the kind that renders them a different version of themselves than the one they knew. It's a book about a mother's death, and admitting that Michael Jordan pushed off, about forgiveness, and how none of the author's black friends wanted to listen to "Don't Stop Believin'." It's about wrestling with histories, personal and shared. Abdurraqib uses touchstones from the world outside—from Marvin Gaye to Nikola Tesla to his neighbor's dogs—to create a mirror, inside of which every angle presents a new possibility.