Manjushree Thapa Livres

All of Us in Our Own Lives is the story of an encounter between strangers who shape each others' lives in fateful ways. Ava Berriden, a Canadian lawyer, quits her corporate law firm in Toronto, leaves her passionless marriage and moves to Nepal, from where she was adopted as a baby. In Kathmandu, she struggles to launch a new career in international aid and to forge a connection with the country of her birth. Ava's work brings her into contact with Indira Sharma, a leading gender expert in Kathmandu. It also takes her to a small village where bright young Sapana Karki dreams of progress for herself, her community and her country. Sapana's world-weary half-brother Gyanu, who works in Dubai, is back to settle his sister's future after their father's death. Each person is on a journey of his or her own. These journeys intersect with a chance meeting between Ava and Gyanu. In the aftermath, her decisions alter the lives of the others. The novel delves into the cynical, monied world of international aid, and reflects on recent events in Nepal, including the devastating earthquake of 2015 and the subsequent drafting of a new constitution. It is ultimately a story about human interconnectedness and the unexpected ways in which strangers come to relate to one another.

It was and it was not far, where she came from. Some days her birth village felt centuries away, and other days it was too close, she could not get far enough away from it- She lived, now, in America, in a spare, uncluttered flat with a transient feel. Her only memento from home was an ammonite, a lustrous stone the colour of shale, the shape of a lopsided egg. A fossil of marine life from when the himals were below the sea, millennia ago.' Prema, a young woman adrift in war-torn rural Nepal, with little to bind her to her family, village and country, wins a green card in a US government lottery and emigrates to Los Angeles. In this unfamiliar metropolis she struggles to invent a life she can call her own, even as love, and sexual awakening, transform her. There are no constants, or signposts, as she navigates the territory of her new world. But her commitment to Esther, the old woman she is employed to care for, her passionate relationship with Luis, her American lover, and her growing involvement with the endangered El Segundo Blue butterfly, give her a fragile sense of belonging. Lyrical and haunting, and also deeply political, this new novel by the celebrated author of The Tutor of History and Forget Kathmandu confirms her reputation as one of the most original and distinctive literary voices from South Asia.

In June 2001, King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah was killed in a massacre at Kathmandu's Narayanhiti Royal Palace, allegedly by his son, the Crown Prince, drawing global attention to Nepal. Since then, a violent Maoist insurgency and state counter-insurgency have claimed thousands of lives, and the parliamentary democracy established in 1990 has been lost. The future of civil war and the restoration of popular government remain uncertain. Manjushree Thapa's insightful study delves into the tangled politics of Nepal, beginning with the Narayanhiti massacre and its aftermath. She traces the chaotic history of Nepal's monarchy since the 18th century and the struggle for genuine democracy in the 20th century. Thapa also recounts her trek into Maoist-held territories in West Nepal, where poverty persists, human rights abuses rise, and children as young as thirteen are drawn into conflict. This work blends history, reportage, memoir, and travel writing, offering a profound examination of Nepal's past and present. Thapa’s narrative is marked by insight and clarity, making it one of the finest recent non-fiction works from the subcontinent. Critics praise it as a compelling mix of memoir, history, and analysis, reflecting on the turmoil and challenges faced by her country.

The Tutor of History is an ambitious social saga, a compelling tale of idealism, love and alienation, set in contemporary Nepal caught between tradition and modernity. The events of the novel unfold against the backdrop of a campaign for parliamentary elections in the bustling roadside town of Khaireni Tar. At its heart the book is about four main characters: Giridhar Adhikari, the chairman of the People's Party's district committee, who suffers from a serious alcohol addiction and strange, violent manias; Rishi Parajuli, a lonely, under-employed bachelor and disillusioned communist who gives private tuitions in history to disinterested middle-class boys; Om Gurung, a former British Gurkha determined to bring love into every life in his hometown; and Binita Dahal, a reclusive young widow who runs a small tea shop and is careful not to demand of life more than the meagre pleasures it brings her. As the election campaign reaches its peak, the crisis in each character's life mounts, and the eventual rigging of the elections becomes a metaphor for the flawed, imperfect choices that ordinary people must make to get by in a world beyond their control. significant new voice from the Subcontinent. The first major novel in English to emerge from Nepal.

Startlingly Original And Closely Observed Stories That Capture The Dynamism And Diversity Of Nepali Society In A Time Of Great Flux In Tilled Earth Several Compressed, Poetic And Deeply Evocative Micro-Stories Offer Fleeting Glimpses Of Small, Private Dramas Of People Caught Midlife: An Elderly Woodworker Loses His Way In A Modern Kathmandu Neighbourhood; A Homesick Expatriate Nurses A Hangover; A Clerk At The Ministry Of Home Affairs Learns To Play Solitaire On The Computer; A Young Man Is Drawn To Politics Against His Better Judgement; A Child Steals Her Classmate S Book . . . The Longer Stories In The Collection, Too, Span A Wide Course, Taking Subjects From Rural And Urban Nepal As Well As From The Nepali Diaspora Abroad. In Tilled Earth A Young Woman Goes To Seattle As A Student, And Finds Herself Becoming An Illegal Alien. Love Marriage Is An Inner Narration By A Young Man Who Defying Family Pressure Falls In Love With A Woman Of The Wrong Caste. In The Buddha In The Earth-Touching Posture , A Retired Secretary Visits The Buddha S Birthplace, Lumbini, Only To Find His Deepest Insecurities Exposed. With Their Unexpected, Inventive Forms, These Stories Reveal The Author S Deep Love Of Language And Commitment To Craft. Manjushree Thapa Pushes The Styles Of Her Stories To Match The Distinctiveness Of Their Content, Emerging Confidently As A Skilled Innovator And Formalist.

Rishi ist in der Großstadt Kathmandu ein Zugereister ohne Beziehungen, der sich mehr schlecht als recht mit Nachhilfestunden in Geschichte durchschlägt. Entwurzelt und perspektivlos kehrt er zur Kommunistischen Partei (UML) und in sein Heimatdorf zurück, wo er im Wahlkampf eine konkurrierende Partei ausspionieren soll. Dort versucht die junge Witwe Binita, sich mit einem Leben am Rand der Gesellschaft abzufinden. Um sich, ihre kleine Tochter und eine Cousine zu ernähren, betreibt sie einen kleinen Teeladen und erregt damit den Unmut ihrer Verwandten. Der Schlüsselroman der jüngsten nepalesischen Literatur erstmals im Taschenbuch.