A brilliant, funny, and moving account of the characters that make festivals tick. There are the authors enjoying moments of adulation after years of creative isolation and the star-struck public allowed to mingle with their cultural icons. And those in-between who are both author and fan as is the case of Rudrani Rana, who attends one festival session after the other clutching a canvas bag which contains the labour of her life - an unsubmitted manuscript written and re-written until only the sentence 'my body is a haunted house' remains untouched. Partly a love letter to one of the great literary shows on earth, partly a satire about the glittery set that throngs this literary venue year in year out, and partly an ode to the millions of aspiring writers who inhabit literary festivals, Jaipur Journals provides a lively peep behind the curtains at this much-loved event.

Set in Kashi, an ancient Indian city, this work is about a woman who confronts memories that have pursued her through birth and rebirth.

'A long, long time ago, in the ancient lands of India, known in those days as Bharatvarsha, a family quarrel grew into a bloody war. There had been wars before, and there have been wars since, but that mighty battle between warring cousins of the Kuru clan has become a part of the mythology and history of India. Told and retold a million times, the story of the Mahabharata is about defeat as much as victory, about humility as much as courage. It is the greatest story ever told.' Like a modern-day suta or storyteller, Namita Gokhale brings alive India's richest literary treasure with disarming ease and simplicity. She retells this timeless tale of mortals and immortals and stories within stories, of valour, deceit, glory, and despair, for today's young reader in a clear, contemporary style. A brilliant series of evocative and thoughtful illustrations by painter and animator Suddhasattwa Basu brings the epic to life in a vibrant visual feast. Matchless in its content and presentation, The Puffin Mahabharata is a book that will be cherished by readers of all ages.