Jaishree Mishra

Guest: Author, Jaishree Mishra. Debut novel Ancient Promises was published and sold worldwide by
Penguin UK. Subsequent books include Accidents Like Love and Marriage, Afterwards and The Little
Book of Romance.
A historical novel based on the life of Rani Lakshmibhaii of Jhansi was published in December 2007 and was banned soon after in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.  For more information about the author, visit- www.singlebass.com/jaishree-misra

Rani by Jaishree Mishra
When thirteen-year-old Manikarnika leaves her father's court-in-exile to marry the king of Jhansi,
little does she realize the burden of greatness awaiting her. As she grows from a headstrong and
spirited girl into a young woman wise beyond her years,learning to put aside personal disappointments
and desires to emerge as a capable queen beloved of her people, she watches the political landscape
around her shift and change chillingly under the control of the powerful East India Company.

Staying on by Paul Scott
Staying On focuses on Tusker and Lucy Smalley, who are briefly mentioned in the latter two books of
the Raj Quartet, The Towers of Silence and A Division of the Spoils, and are the last British couple
living in the small hill town of Pankot after Indian independence. Tusker had risen to the rank of
colonel in the British Indian Army, but on his retirement had entered the world of commerce as a
‘box wallah’, and the couple had moved elsewhere in India. However, they had returned to Pankot to
take up residence in the Lodge, an annex to Smith’s Hotel. This, formerly the town’s principal hotel,
was now symbolically overshadowed by the brash new Shiraz Hotel, erected by a consortium of Indian
businessmen from the nearby city of Ranpur.

God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Set against a background of political turbulence in Kerala, this novel tells the story of twins
Esthappen and Rahel. Amongst the vats of banana jam and heaps of peppercorns in their grandmother's factory they try to craft a childhood for themselves amidst what constitutes their family.

Palace of Illusions by Chitra Bannerjee
Through the long, lonely years of my childhood, when my father's palace seemed to tighten its grip
around me until I couldn't breathe, I would go to my nurse and ask for a story. And though she knew
many wondrous and edifying tales, the one I made her tell me over and over was the story of my birth.
I think I liked it so much because it made me feel special, and in those days there was little else
in my life that did. Perhaps Dhai Ma realized this. Perhaps that was why she agreed to my demands
even though we both knew I should be using my time more gainfully, in ways more befitting the
daughter of King Drupad, ruler of Panchaal, one of the richest kingdoms in the continent of Bharat.
The story inspired me to make up fancy names for myself: Offspring of Vengeance, or the Unexpected
One. But Dhai Ma puffed out her cheeks at my tendency to drama, calling me the Girl Who Wasn't
Invited. Who knows, perhaps she was more accurate than I. "The Palace of Illusions" takes us back
to a time that is half-history, half-myth, and wholly magical; narrated by Panchaali, the wife of
the five Pandava brothers, we are - finally - given a woman's take on the timeless tale that is the
Mahabharata. Tracing Panchaali's life, from fiery birth and lonely childhood, where her beloved
brother is her only true companion; through her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna;
to marriage, motherhood, and Panchaali's secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her
husbands' most dangerous enemy, "The Palace of Illusions" is a deeply human novel about a woman
born into a man's world: a world of warriors, gods, and the ever-manipulating hands of fate.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Begun in 1811 at the height of Jane Austen's writing powers and published in 1814, "Mansfield Park"
 marks a conscious break from the tone of her first three novels, "Northanger Abbey", "Sense and
Sensibility", and "Pride and Prejudice", the last of which Austen came to see as 'rather too light.
' Fanny Price is unlike any of Austen's previous heroines, a girl from a poor family brought up in
a splendid country house and possessed of a vast reserve of moral fortitude and imperturbability.
She is very different from Elizabeth Bennet, but is the product of the same inspired imagination.

Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach
Amsterdam in the 1630s: considered by its inhabitants to be the wealthiest city in the world. For do
they not possess the richness of art, literature, music and the refinement of society, in addition
to commercial wealth? The painters of the time are busy; the city’s inhabitants intend to guarantee
their immortality with gold. Sitting for such a portrait is Sophia Sandvoort, beside her elderly
husband Cornelis. They are surrounded by objects showing her husband’s piety, yet he has not been
able to resist including a tulip, its petals full and on the point of dropping. For Cornelis, like
many of his fellow Dutchmen, has made money from the speculation on this exotic flower and its bulbs.
As the painter, Jan van Loos, starts to capture Sophia’s likeness on his canvas, so a slow passion
begins to burn. And as the execution of the painting unfolds, so a slow dance is begun between the
household’s inhabitants. Ambitions, desires and dreams breed a grand deception, and as the lies
multiply, events move towards a thrilling and tragic climax.