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Bundook. Gun. A common word, but one that turns Deen Datta’s world upside down.

A dealer of rare books, Deen is used to a quiet life spent indoors, but as his once-solid beliefs begin to shift, he is forced to set out on an extraordinary journey; one that takes him from India to Los Angeles and Venice via a tangled route through the memories and experiences of those he meets along the way. There is Piya, a fellow Bengali-American who sets his journey in motion; Tipu, an entrepreneurial young man who opens Deen’s eyes to the realities of growing up in today’s world; Rafi, with his desperate attempt to help someone in need; and Cinta, an old friend who provides the missing link in the story they are all a part of. It is a journey that will upend everything he thought he knew about himself, about the Bengali legends of his childhood, and about the world around him.

Amitav Ghosh‘s Gun Island is a beautifully realized novel that effortlessly spans space and time. It is the story of a world on the brink, of increasing displacement and unstoppable transition. But it is also a story of hope, of a man whose faith in the world and the future is restored by two remarkable women.

Half Portraits Under Water is a collection of ten loosely interlinked stories that explore love, loss, and the interconnected nature of human experiences.

In Kenya, a politician is murdered in broad daylight and several testimonies narrated to an unseen commissioner tries to get to the truth; a mother desperately tries to protect her freedom-fighting son from a ruthless and vindictive government regime; a young boy in a slum heads to a football pitch with his friend for what would be the last time as his country shifts politically to a new power; in an elite school for gifted young adults, a girl with a despotic father disappears and soon her three friends have to make a deal with the devil in order to hold on to their dreams.

Through these ten stories set against the moving backdrop of sociopolitical changes in different countries, discover the profound connections that shape our lives, intertwining themes of love, grief, and what it means to be deeply, unflinchingly human.