1989-born Carlos Manuel Alvarez, whose ideals of the Cuban revolution turned sour. His  novel The Fallen (2019) painted a portrait of family life in rural Cuba, where revolutionary dreams are dead, freedoms are curtailed, and opportunities are scarce.  False War is sequel published in Spanish in 2021, and now translated by Natsha Wimmer examines the destinies of some of those Cubans who have fled the embattled island. The common themes of Cuban migrants in Miami, New York, Mexico City, Paris and Berlin, their loss and longing of lives uprooted and grafted elsewhere, borne on oceanic currents of escape and return. The … Continue reading Cuba: Paralysed and immersed in a fake war “A city of many stray sadness”

Lionel Richie  Truly is a candid memoir, as he revisits hilarious and harrowing events that seek to inspire all who doubt themselves or feel their dreams don’t matter. Lionel’s unlikely success stories- from a shy, tragically late bloomer to his dramatic transformation into a world-class entertainer and composer of love songs that have played as the soundtrack of our lives. Lionel’s early childhood in Tuskegee, Alabama, where he grew up on its university campus during the heyday of Civil Rights movement to adventures as a member of The Commodores, to coming-of-age in Harlem where that band took off, to culture shock … Continue reading Dreams matter

Two women, an office filled with secrets. One terrible crime that can’t be taken back. Dawn Schiff works as an accountant, and never says the right thing. She has no friends, and is always at her office desk precisely at 8:45am. One morning, she doesn’t show up to the office, her co-worker Natalie Farrell- beautiful, popular, top sales representative for five years running is surprised. Then she receives an unsettling, anonymous phone call that changes everything. It turns out Dawn wasn’t just an awkward outsider- she was being targeted by someone close. And now Natalie is irrevocably tied to Dawn … Continue reading Game of Cat and Mouse

Martin Amis’s “London Trilogy”, alongwith the novel London Fields, The Information, Money is hailed as a “sprawling fierce, Vulgar display and exhilarating skilful savvy when it made its first appearance in the mid-1980s. Ami’s funny and on-target portraits of life in the fast lane form a bold and frightening portrait of Ronald Regan’s America and Margaret Thatcher’s England. Money is the hilarious story of John Self, one of London’s top commercial directors, who is given the opportunity to make his first feature film- alternatively titled Good Money and Bad Money. He is also living money, taking money, and spending money … Continue reading Relentless pursuit of pleasure and success

Olive is always unlucky in love, career, well almost everything, but her twin sister Ami, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is a fairy tale, and she has managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of internet contests. Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who happens to be the best man. Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from … Continue reading Unlucky in love