Of memories and fights for justice and success

Traverse through the memories of old yellowing letters from a trunk. Read John Grisham’s intriguing story on a lawyer’s fight for justice. And a love story from the Nizam’s rule in Hyderabad which took a toll half century later. There are also stories from business geniuses on how to win customers. There’s much the IANS bookshelf has for you this weekend to beat the heat. Take a look.

1. Book: The Orphanage for Words; Author: Shinie Antony; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 179; Price: Rs.250

The book documents the unsaid, the forgotten, and what means nothing anymore. Old yellowing letters at the bottom of the trunk. Words that jam one’s hands on the steering wheel after the lights turn green. Lies that men tell women to get them into bed and lies women tell the men they cheat on. An old man holding his wife’s hand in dementia. With traces of poetry, these stories speak of the fleeting nature of emotions and the way they run deep.

2. Book: The Fugitive; Author: John Grisham; Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton; Pages: 250; Price: Rs.299

The book revolves around Theodore Boone – a teenage lawyer and a courtroom hero – who is on a class trip seeing the sights of the capital city. But he hadn’t counted on seeing the most wanted man in his home town, Strattenburg.

Suddenly Theo is caught in the hunt for a murder accused, alongside the FBI. He knows he’s getting in deep and that things could become even more dangerous. But if he goes back to the court, it will be down to him.

One needs to read this book to know if justice will be done, or if the killer’s criminal allies will be out for revenge.

3. Book: Quick Wins in Sales and Marketing; Author: Jackie Jarvis; Publisher: Robinson; Pages: 258; Price: Rs.299

To build a successful business, one not only needs to attract customers but also keep them for the long haul. This book will give time-pressured business owners some quick, simple ways to attract customers and win business. With tips which are easy to read and quick to act on, this book is packed with examples from business owners who have made these ideas work for them.

4. Book: The Last Candles of the Night; Author: Ian Bedford; Publisher: Speaking Tiger; Pages: 275; Price: Rs.299

In 1948, India had achieved its independence, but the princely state of Hyderabad – the Nizam’s dominion – with its feudal splendour and deep pockets of rural poverty, unwilling to accede to India, and fighting Communist insurrection within. Philip, ‘the world’s youngest headmaster’, has been appointed from Australia to a one-teacher school in the town of Warangal, a post no Hindu would take then. He then meets Anand, Congress party member working to bring Hyderabad into the Indian Union. As Ragini, the landlord’s daughter and a Communist, lands, a love triangle develops with events that take their toll half a century later.