Of healing, perseverance and courage (IANS Books This Weekend)

What prompted Malala Yousafzai to speak up against the Taliban? How does love sear and consume and how can one heal with homeopathy? How can a few things better your life? It is these intriguing stories that IANS has for its readers this weekend. Take a look.

1. Book: Malala; Author: Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick; Publisher: Hachette; Pages: 240; Price: Rs. 299

Malala Yousafzai was only 10-years-old when the Taliban took control of the Swat region of what was then Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) where she lived. The militants said music was a crime; that women weren't allowed to go to the market; that girls couldn't go to school.

Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believed in. So, she fought for her right to be educated. And on Oct 9, 2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause. She was shot point-blank on her way home from school.

No one expected her to survive - but she did.

Now she is an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest Nobel Peace Prize nominee.

This is the remarkable story of a girl who knew from a young age that she wanted to change the world - and did. It will open your eyes to another world and will make you believe in hope, truth, miracles and the determination of one person to inspire change.

2.Book: Natural Kingdoms: Healing with Homeopathy; Author: Rajan Sankaran; Publisher: Penguin; Pages: 240; Price: Rs. 299

Why is it that, sometimes, a single pattern repeats itself endlessly through every sphere of an individual's life, despite their best efforts to change it?

Using his path-breaking "sensation" method of diagnosis, the author explains that an individual's perception of stress is shaped by an inner pattern, or song, which is connected to one of the three kingdoms in nature - animal, plant or mineral. Identifying this fundamental connection enables homeopaths to cure ailments at their root.

3. Book: East of Love West of Desire; Author: Dinesh Prasad; Publisher: Tara; Pages: 440; Price: Rs. 399

The night was silent as death. Not a soul stirred, no sound of feet, no crickets chirped, no leaves rustled, no wind in the air - just an all-pervading sheet of darkness with a deep colour of silence. The silence outside seemed to echo the silence inside him. He sad huddled. In silence. Waiting.

Set against the backdrop of time when death trains pulled into stations between Lahore and Delhi in the wake of the sub-continent's partition in 1947, the book is a collection of novellas and short stories about love that sears and consumes, elevates and devastates. They are stories of fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, men and women who come together and yet are symbols of possibilities unexplored because the world around them is exploding, stripping them of their dignity and humanity.

These are also timeless tales about growing up, love, longing, faith and differences. They make you cry. They make you laugh. But above all, they make you hope and want to believe that all will be well even though the reality points at quite another outcome.

4. Book: Passion, Perseverance and Prayer; Author: Pooja Ruprell; Publisher: Body and Soul; Pages: 234; Price: Rs. 299

This book is all about everyday guidance and inspiration, juxtaposing the personal with the profound. It is a story, a diary, a guide - 52 inspirational, weekly, readings encourage us to find beauty, shine with our own special light and muster the courage to carry on through tough times, with passion, perseverance and prayers.

It blends everyday experiences and observations with the insights of philosophers. With monthly themes that are organised around a dominant topic, recognising our vulnerability as we journey from day-to-day, these pages offer non-judgmental support.

They help us believe that we can be truly happy, everyday.