Set against the tumultuous backdrop of a fragmenting Punjab and moving between Canada and India, Can you Hear the Nightbird Call? charts the interweaving stories of three Indian women - Bibi-ji, Leela and Nimmo - each in search of a resting place amid rapidly changing personal and political landscapes.The ambitious, defiant Sikh Bibi-ji, born Sharanjeet Kaur in a Punjabi village, steals her sister Kanwar's destiny, thereby gaining passage to Canada.Leela Bhat, born to a German mother and a Hindu father, is doomed to walk the earth as a "half-and-half." Leela's childhood in Bangalore is scarred by her in-between identity and by the great unhappiness of her mother, Rosa, an outcast in their conservative Hindu home. Years after Rosa's shadowy death, Leela has learned to deal with her in-between status, and she marries Balu Bhat, a man from a family of purebred Hindu Brahmins, thus acquiring status and a tenuous stability. However, when Balu insists on emigrating to Canada, Leela must trade her newfound comfort for yet another beginning. Once in Vancouver with her husband and two children, Leela's initial reluctance to leave home gradually evolves.While Bibi-ji gains access to a life of luxury in Canada, her sister Kanwar, left behind to weather the brutal violence of the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, is not so fortunate. She disappears, leaving Bibi-ji bereft and guilt-ridden.Meanwhile, a little girl, who just might be Kanwar's six-year-old daughter Nimmo, makes her way to Delhi, where she is adopted, marries and goes on to build a life with her loving husband, Satpal. Although this existence is constantly threatened by poverty, Nimmo cherishes it, filled as it is with love and laughter, and she guards it fiercely.Across the world, Bibi-ji is plagued by unhappiness: she is unable to have a child. She believes that it is her punishment for having stolen her sister's future, but tries to drown her sorrows by investing all her energies into her increasingly successful restaurant called the Delhi Junction. This restaurant becomes the place where members of the growing Vancouver Indo-Canadian community come to dispute and discuss their pasts, presents and futures.Over the years, Bibi-ji tries to uncover her sister Kanwar's fate but is unsuccessful until Leela Bhat - carrying a message from Satpal, Nimmo's husband - helps Bibi-ji reconnect with the woman she comes to believe is her niece - Nimmo. Used to getting whatever she has wanted from life, Bibi-ji subtly pressures Nimmo into giving up Jasbeer, her oldest child, into her care.Eight-year old Jasbeer does not settle well in Vancouver. Resentful of his parents' decision to send him away, he finds a sense of identity only in the stories , of Sikh ancestry, real and imagined, told to him by Bibi-ji's husband, Pa-ji. Over the years, his childish resentments harden, and when a radical preacher named Dr. Randhawa arrives in Vancouver, preaching the need for a separate Sikh homeland, Jasbeer is easily seduced by his violent rhetoric.Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? elegantly moves back and forth between the growing desi community in Vancouver and the increasingly conflicted worlds of Punjab and Delhi, where rifts between Sikhs and Hindus are growing. In June 1984, just as political tensions within India begin to spiral out of control, Bibi-ji and Pa-ji decide to make their annual pilgrimage to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest of Sikh shrines. While they are there, the temple is stormed by Indian government troops attempting to contain Sikh extremists hiding inside the temple compound. The results are devastating.Then, in October of the same year, Indira Gandhi is murdered by her two Sikh bodyguards, an act of vengeance for the assault on the temple. The assassination sets off a wave of violence against innocent Sikhs.The tide of anger and violence spills across borders and floods into distant Canada, and into the lives of neighbours Bibi-ji and Leela. Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? weaves together the personal and the political - and beautifully brings the reader into the reality of terrorism and religious intolerance. *Bibi-ji turned to gaze out at the street. They could become far more prosperous, she was sure of that. Opportunities lay around them like pearls on these streets. But they were visible only to people with sharp eyes.'What are you looking at, Bibi-ji?' Lalloo asked, coming around to the front with a box full of pickle jars. He lowered it carefully on the floor and stared out the window.'What am I looking for, Lalloo, for,' Bibi-ji corrected. 'I am looking for pearls.' 'I don't see anything there, Bibi-ji,' Lalloo remarked after a few moments.She laughed. 'Neither do I, but I will. I know I will.' The war had left the whole world poorer: why had Pa-ji not thought of opening a used-clothing store instead of this Indian grocery shop? She wondered whether the shop would do better in Abbotsford or in Duncan, where there were more Sikhs than here in Vancouver. But no, she had a feeling that it was a city with a future, one in which she would be wise to invest her money and her hard work.*-from Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? Views: 5
Re-read this classic romance by New York Times bestselling author Penny Jordan, previously published as Long Cold Winter in 1982 Yorke Laing needs a wife, and conveniently, he already has one, even if he hasn't seen her for two years! Autumn is not the trembling innocent he married but an independent woman who claims to no longer desire him, yet her body betrays her... Autumn was a naïve girl when she wed Yorke. Cold and unyielding, her husband denied her the love she craved and the divorce she wanted. Now he is back offering freedom, but at a cost: he will grant her a divorce, but only after she agrees to be his wife in every sense of the word! Views: 5
Rumors on the Red Carpet Learning at the hands of a billionaire When a dream holiday propels Thia into the glittering world of New York's scandalous elite, she catches the eye of renowned businessman Lucien Steele. For the first time, Alicia's determined to take what she really wants...love and life in the fast lane! The Talk of Hollywood Lights, Camera, Bedroom! From his latest sports car to his latest blonde, gossip surrounds infamous Hollywood director Jaxon Wilder. Infuriatingly, Stazy Bromley proves resistant to Jaxon's usual charms--and demands an equal stake in his project! Is it only a matter of time before another scandalous affair rocks the tabloids? Views: 5
Jeff Greene is enjoying his vacation on the Western Caribbean island of Roatan when a freak storm transports him back in time to the 17th century. Jeff takes up with a band of pirates led by the infamous Captain John Coxen as he searches for a way back to his own time in this roller-coaster ride of high-seas adventure, bloody swashbuckling, secret romance, and mysterious forces of nature. Views: 5
This is a Novella approximately 34,713 words. If you do not enjoy shorter works you may not want to make this purchase ( You should though! ) Meet the Pussy Pounders, Adam,Sean,Cortez and their female friend and confidante Antoinette. This group of four were thrown away and thrown together. Property of the foster care system but through every struggle they had has children during the worst time of Views: 5
San Francisco activist Christopher Kalman has little to show for years spent organizing non-violent marches, speak-outs, blockades, and shutdowns for social and environmental justice. When a shadowy eco-saboteur proposes an attack on genetically engineered agriculture, Christopher is ripe to be drawn into a more dangerous game. His certainty that humankind stands on the brink of ecological ruin drives Christopher to reckless acts and rash alliances, pitting grave personal risk against conscientious passion.A thirty-something, underemployed layout artist, Christopher lives in a ramshackle activist collective–the Triangle–named for its Duboce Triangle neighborhood in the heart of San Francisco. Christopher and his chosen family are determined to carry on the good fight; yet the raging war in Iraq, begun in the face of peaceful protests by millions across the globe, has shaken the Triangle's faith in the value of nonviolent dissent.Chagall, an eco-saboteur practiced in the art of... Views: 5
In the tradition of Judy Blume's Summer Sisters, The Summer List is a tender yet tantalizing novel about two friends, the summer night they fell apart, and the scavenger hunt that reunites them decades later-until the clues expose a breathtaking secret that just might shatter them once and for all.Laura and Casey were once inseparable: as they floated on their backs in the sunlit lake, as they dreamed about the future under starry skies, and as they teamed up for the wild scavenger hunts in their small California lakeside town. Until one summer night, when a shocking betrayal sent Laura running through the pines, down the dock, and into a new life, leaving Casey and a first love in her wake.But the past is impossible to escape, and now, after seventeen years away, Laura is pulled home and into a reunion with Casey she can't resist-one last scavenger hunt. With a twist: this time, the list of clues leads to the settings of their most cherished summer memories. From glistening Jade... Views: 5
1856. Christine Banner is alone after her father's death. Determined to make her own way in the world, she stumbles onto an estate in the New Forest where she finds work that she loves. However, when the future looks uncertain, Christine's skill at handling some of the large and difficult war horses shines through and captures the attention of the son of the estate owner. In the face of grief, sadness and disappointment, Christine's intelligence and strength will be tested until she finds the place she can truly call home. Views: 5
