~ The End of Innocence, by Moni Mohsin ~ This novel is yet another example of very high quality fiction in English from Pakistani women writers. Mohsin joins an elite group comprising the likes of Sidhwa, Suleri, Shamsie, who have...
~ Once was Bombay, by Pinki Virani ~ Pinki Virani is outspoken, courageous, opinionated, and forthright. In the preface to Once was Bombay, she lays it on the line. Who killed Bombay? We did. Each of us who thought ourselves...
~ Song of the Cuckoo Bird, by Amulya Malladi ~ In 1961, an 11-year-old girl called Kokila arrived at an ashram in a small town in Andhra Pradesh. Girls were married young in those days, but only moved into their...
~ Breaking the Silence: Domestic Violence in the South Asian American Community. Edited by Sandhya Nankani ~ Domestic violence is a dirty secret in the South Asian-American community but in the last decade or so it has become less hidden....
~ No Onions Nor Garlic, by Srividya Natarajan ~ This insouciant first novel starts with a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Chennai University. Sundar, Amandeep, Murugesh and Rufus audition for parts, convinced from a brief scan of the...
~ Desert Places, by Robyn Davidson ~ Robyn Davidson is an Australian woman with a fondness for and familiarity with camels. Some years ago she travelled the Australian desert with 3 camels, occasionally in company with Aborigine groups, and chronicled...
~ Stillborn, by Rohini Nilekani ~ This medical thriller set in Bangalore has a plot involving vaccine development, clinical trials and medical research. Being tangentially involved in those fields, and having connections to Bangalore, I picked it up immediately. The...
~ Out on Main Street, by Shani Mootoo ~ I was favourably inclined towards this book before I opened it: I’d read Shani Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms at Night, and had heard good things about Out on Main Street already. Still,...
~ The Writing on my Forehead, by Nafisa Haji ~ Haji’s first novel has a beautifully evocative title; the first chapter tells of the protagonist’s childhood memories of her mother tracing Quranic verses on her forehead with a finger, to...
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