When successful London real estate agent, Isabelle Goh, is left close to death in an attempted assassination, Detective Ayesha Nur begins a case that not only brings her face to face with her own demons, but sends her on a journey to unravel Goh’s long-hidden secrets. What happened a half-century ago in post-colonial Singapore? Who was baby Rosie and how did her disappearance so many years in the past lead to the shooting in modern-day London?
UNTIL EVEN THE ANGELS, Suzanne Scott Tomita’s debut literary crime novel, is a story of class division in a rapidly changing world, childhood friendships gained and lost, and bonds that erode, but can never be erased.
The three famous girls have it all: the looks, the fame, and the boys.
GALE, the perfect girl from an old money family with a reputation to uphold and a secret no one can ever find out.
PAPANG, a scandalous girl with hundreds of one-night stand stories.
And QUEEN, a gorgeous yet deadly girl who always gets everything she desires, one way or another.
The three of them are inseparable. Then everything changes when someone murder Queen on a happy April Fool’s Night, leaving the other girls devoid of their memories.
Gale wakes up on her elite boyfriend’s bed and decides to go along with his lies, even though she knows full well the guy who left a kiss mark on her last night was not him.
And as Papang finds herself sleeping on a garbage dump without a clue how she got there, her instinct says she must have been with a guy. What’s worse is that he might be the one she shouldn’t be with.
As all the darkest secrets Queen kept inside are revealed one by one, it becomes clearer that almost everyone has a reason to kill her, including her own best friends who are drowning in their own lies while trying to protect themselves by pointing fingers at each other.
But in the end, nothing is as it seems, and no matter how shocking the truth may be, they will finally see who exactly Queen is.
And why she has to die.
When her sister is away for a business trip, 23-year-old Ellie Maharani agrees to look after her nieces and discovers on the first day of school that her sister’s PTA leadership is under attack. Ellie might not know much about PTA, but nobody steals her sister’s presidency from under her nose. She volunteers to sit in as an acting chairperson, unaware that the job comes with a condescending yet attractive PTA co-captain who criticizes everything she does, including her choice of donut.
The last thing Dion Saputra needs is more work outside his ER job, but refusing his old school’s request would incite a PTA war. With a prominent musical gala on the way, any mistakes, however small, would reflect badly on Dion’s uncle, the Principal. Dion would do anything for the man who has raised him since his father died, even if it means playing nice to the clueless co-captain who thinks cheese donuts are better than Mochaccino.
Between meetings and rehearsals, stolen kisses and an orchestrated PTA coup, they begin to realize that maybe, just maybe, they don’t despise each other’s guts?
“He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.”
Anna Karenina, a beautiful, sensuous, and rebellious young woman, is unhappily married to the wealthy but cold aristocrat Alexey Alexandrovitch. Restless in her passionless marriage, she lives in a society and times where Church rules the order for the wealthy; one wrong can bring down the entire family. Thus, she was floating through life until she met Count Vronsky. They fell passionately in love, convinced they met their soulmates. The story goes through their struggles to get approval for divorce, and their desire to live together in a complex society.
Tolstoy uses his characters to raise complex questions about family’s, egos that become a handcuff, and a society that becomes limiting to individual happiness. His famous novel is seemingly ahead of its times as it questions the inherent bias within people.
“There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights.”
A story told through letters, Dracula is the first novel set against the fantasy of vampires. The story that gave popular culture the tropes of vampire teeth, bites on the neck and their aversions to sun retold time and again.
Set in the wilderness of Transylvania, the Castle Dracula becomes a dark hole where visitors become confined to the prisoners of the castle. Count Dracula, the lord of the castle, is trying to move from Transylvania to England, but is unable to because every person who arrives becomes a victim of his uncontrollable vampire seductions.
A thrilling tale of survival of both the victims and victimizer; the Count’s desperate measures to escape a lonely existence. The horrifying twists and turns make it a gripping read and the spooky settings leaves the reader wide eyed.
‘He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.’
Set on the moors and based on two households, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, it’s a story of love, passion, and the fear of isolation.
A poor boy, Heathcliff is rescued from the shackles of poverty and is taken in by Mr Earnshaw. He soon develops an intense relationship with his gaurdian’s daughter, Catherine. But her real brother, Hindley detests Heathcliff to the extent that he manipulates her to marry someone else.
Separated by fate but connected by heart, Catherine and Heathcliffe long to be together, uniting in a supernatural realm. Their relationship as lovers and with the others impacts everyone’s lives for
generations to come.
How long can their love last amidst the constant feelings of jealousy, vengeance and hatred? Will the residents of Wuthering Heights find a way to heal?
“I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.”
Pip, a blacksmith’s apprentice goes from humble beginnings in the marshes of Kent to the bustling streets of Victorian London. A chance encounter with the escaped convict Magwitch sets off a series of events that lead Pip to the eccentric Miss Havisham and her captivating ward, Estella.
In his pursuit of becoming a gentleman to win Estella’s affection, Pip grapples with his own self-worth and the impact of his humble origins.
Pip must unravel the complexities of his own identity and in the bustling 19th century London his idealistic ambitions are threatened by dominating class difference.
Charles Dickens’ riveting and thought-provoking novel raises profound questions about human worth and the pursuit of success in a rapidly changing world.
“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”
Catherine Morland is a seventeen-year-old romantic at heart, fond of reading Gothic novels. One weekend she is invited by friends to spend a season in Bath, and for the first time participates in glamorous balls unique to the nineteenth century London lifestyle.
So it happens, at one ball she meets the intriguing and wealthy Henry Tilney, her over-active imagination leads her to expect dramatic twists at every turn.
However, the truth turns out to be far more complicated and lot more mundane; and love happens to be a lot simpler than her novel obsessed young heart had imagined. Will the reality be a disappointment or sweet relief for her? Young Catherine goes through many self-induced trials to learn the simple lesson of life.
“Drama is to life what ships are to the sea. A means to traverse it. To plumb its depths, breadth, and beauty.”
At the age of ten years old, Fanny Price was removed from her poverty-stricken home to live with her rich cousins in Mansfield Park. Fanny was beautiful but not seeking beauty, quiet but not weak, sensible but not proud. The residents of Mansfield couldn’t get themselves to show her the fondness she deserved. In the midst of it, she had only one ally in her cousin Edmund.
When the cousins grow older, suddenly the Crawfords family takes residence in the neighbourhood, and the sister-brother duo set off events of romantic encounters and heartbreak.
Will Fanny defend her bonds and protect the life she has built in Mansfield Park? Will she hide her love for Edmund or come forth?
Mansfield Park is touted as Austen’s most mature and sensitive novel, mostly in credit to her heroin who is both sensitive and brave.
“If I loved you less, I might be able to talk and show it more.”
In the world of Emma, love, self-discovery, and matchmaking intertwine in a charming countryside town. Emma is Austen’s most vivid heroine : beautiful, spoilt, generous, and exceptionally witty.
While caring for her demanding father, life in the quaint town becomes tiresome. Seeking amusement, Emma immerses herself in the art of matchmaking, set to unite her orphaned friend, Harriet Smith with the eligible clergyman Mr. Elton.
However, her astute neighbor, Mr. Knightley calls her out for seeking her own interest and not her friend’s. Both Emma and Mr.Knightly are attracted to one another, primarily because only they can match each other’s wit and intelligence.
Emma’s path towards maturity and self-awareness is a poignant story. A captivating exploration of personal growth, as she navigates the consequences of her meddling.
