The prologue: A man, who had gone to fight for his homeland in some senseless war and came back with his legs truncated, “in reality, only half a man” is pulling himself along a train station platform, pitiably begging but...
Few authors write about South Boston like Dennis Lehane. His novels are thrillers with murder and mayhem, but also snapshots in time of the culture of ‘Southie’, with its intense ethnic divisions, racism, and close-knit ties. Now gentrifying, the area...
In a dystopian future, most women are unable to bear children. The few women who are fertile are managed by the government, whose goal is to ensure the continuation of the species by making sure these women bear children to...
Having been widely acclaimed on the Black British Writing scene for I Am Not Your Baby Mother and Sista Sister, which dealt with the challenges of being a young black woman in modern day urban Britain, I expected good things...
The blurb for Leopard at the Door reeks of The Far Pavilions. “A sweeping tale of self-discovery, betrayal and an impossible love.” “evocative portait of a woman — and a nation — on the cusp of profound change” Note how...
Since this is a bestseller with such a promising title, I was keen to read it in the hope of some ‘pseudosciency’ content. Alas, it turns out not to have much to do with science despite its protagonist being a...
In the early 1600s, America was vast and Europeans had a tenuous foothold in Jamestown, Virginia. To encourage immigration, every Englishman who brought a servant or bonded labourer to America was ‘given’ 50 acres of land. One of the Englishmen...
When this collection came out in 2009, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was already well known from the excellent Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun, but had not yet published the wonderful Americanah. This collection, This Thing Around Your Neck,...
At first reading of the blurb, I was none too sold on this book; it came across as being in the fantasy genre with ghosts and hauntings – the supernatural is not really my scene. However, since it is set...
Imagine a weatherproofed box of books outside a house where anyone is free to stop by and pick up a book, drop off a book, or just browse. It is such a charming idea, and seems so community-minded and friendly....
A debut author with a collection of short stories set in Bangalore; definitely worth investigating. Most of the stories in Shubha Sunder’s collection, Boomtown Girl , focuses, as befits the title, on girls growing up in Bangalore in the 1990s....
The early wave of South Asian immigrant writing focused on the immigrants themselves: their unfamiliarity with the new country, discrimination, yearning for a home that changed after their departure, and excitement about the opportunities now available to them. The next...
The perennial problem with getting one’s hands on a new release by a favourite author, is the reining in of expectations, so as not to unfairly set up a novel for failure/disappointment. It is hard however, not to get excited...
Novels about neurodivergent people are no longer unusual. After the well-deserved success of Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog In the NightTime, there have been several novels with very memorably ‘different’ characters who have to adjust to an...
Having been very impressed by Fierce Kingdom, I was eager to try another Gin Phillips novel. This one is not quite as thrilling and suspenseful, but the voice is similar, and similarly engaging. The novel focuses on the relationship between...
From Mayur Palli to Gurgaon: Delhi’s Different Worlds
Translation – facilitor of peace? And/or an act of betrayal?
What does not kill you…
Part of a Whole
The sensation-laden internal life of a young teen
“It is simply mine. And that is what matters.”
In and out of Africa
On the Cusp of Change
Medical missionaries
A beguiling 19th-century botanist
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