Faredoon (Freddie) Junglewalla is either the jewel of the Parsi community or a murdering scoundrel. Freddie???s mother-in-law, Jerbanoo, thinks he is planning to do away with her, but Freddie has always been a pragmatist: if the old woman were to die (be murdered?) the body would have to be placed on the open-roofed Towers of Silence, in keeping with custom, and that would never do. Insurance fraud and arson, however, are well within Freddie???s repertoire???in fact he thinks he has invented the idea, so advanced is it for India, in 1901. As his ???skills??? grow he becomes a man of consequence among the Parsis, with people travelling thousands of miles to see him in Lahore, especially if they wish to escape tight spots they have got themselves into. In this wickedly comic novel, the celebrated author of Ice-Candy Man takes us into the heart of the Parsi community, portraying its varied customs and traits with contagious humour.

‘Ben Stubbs uncovers the sheer delight and surprise of discovering what’s in your own backyard.’ — Bob Byrne, author of Adelaide Remember When and Australia Remember When Outsiders think of South Australia as being different, without really knowing much about it. Combining his own travel across the million-square kilometres of the state with an investigation of its history, Ben Stubbs seeks to find out what South Australia is really like. In the spirit of the best travel writing and literary non-fiction, he lingers in places of quiet beauty and meets some memorable people. Along the way he debunks most of the clichés that plague the state. Travelling to Maralinga, Ceduna, Kangaroo Island, the Flinders Ranges, Coober Pedy, the storied Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth and the once-mighty river that is the Murray, Stubbs brings this diverse state to life. He even addresses head-on the question ‘Is South Australia weird?’ Readers will find it hard to resist the book’s implicit invitation to take a look at places much closer to home, to take the time to drink in dramatic landscapes that are slow, deep and speckled with unforgettable characters. ‘Takes you where the silence is massive and the beauty unexpected.’ — Christopher Kremmer ‘Out beyond the vineyards and the festivals that everyone knows, Ben Stubbs finds tales of South Australia’s beauties and dangers: great white sharks and megafauna fossils, opal mines and limestone caves, nuclear tests and murderous camels, 19th century settler towns and timeless Aboriginal stories.’ — Kerryn Goldsworthy, author ofAdelaide

In the Two Medicine territory of Montana, the Pikuni Indians are forced to choose between fighting a futile war or accepting a humiliating surrender, as the encroaching numbers of whites threaten their very existence

A sheltered Pakistani girl is sent to America by her parents, with unexpected results: “Entertaining, often hilarious . . . Not just another immigrant’s tale.” —Publishers Weekly Feroza Ginwalla, a pampered, protected sixteen-year-old Pakistani girl, is sent to America by her parents, who are alarmed by the fundamentalism overtaking Pakistan—and influencing their daughter. Hoping that a few months with her uncle, an MIT grad student, will soften the girl’s rigid thinking, they get more than they bargained for: Feroza, enthralled by American culture and her new freedom, insists on staying. A bargain is struck, allowing Feroza to attend college with the understanding that she will return home and marry well. As a student in a small western town, Feroza finds her perceptions of America, her homeland, and herself beginning to alter. When she falls in love with a Jewish American, her family is aghast. Feroza realizes just how far she has come—and wonders how much further she can go—in a delightful, remarkably funny coming-of-age novel that offers an acute portrayal of America as seen through the eyes of a perceptive young immigrant. “Humorous and affecting.” —Library Journal “Exceptional.” —Los Angeles Times “Her characters [are] painted so vividly you can almost hear them bickering.” —The New York Times