If you enjoy reading books by Shyam Selvadurai then you might also like the following authors:
Michael Ondaatje writes beautifully crafted novels that combine memory, identity, and personal histories. His stories explore lives shaped by political turmoil, displacement, and love, creating vivid pictures of complex characters.
The English Patient is one of his most famous novels. Set during World War II, it tells the intertwined stories of four unrelated people brought together by circumstance, capturing deep connections and inner conflicts.
Romesh Gunesekera's stories often meditate on displacement, memory, and the longing for a place to belong. His lyrical prose captures vivid sensory details and emotional depth, letting readers deeply connect with his characters. Reef is one of his notable novels.
This thoughtful story follows a young cook named Triton, who narrates his experiences in Sri Lanka during a period of political and social upheaval, reflecting themes of loss, transformation, and resilience.
Amitav Ghosh combines rich storytelling with historical insights, often set against dramatic political events. He explores exile, cross-cultural encounters, and personal identity with clarity and thoughtful narration. A notable example is The Shadow Lines.
This novel portrays two intertwined families from India and Britain and how historical events influence their individual identities, memories, and relationships.
Rohinton Mistry tells stories about ordinary individuals dealing with extraordinary struggles. His clear and empathetic writing paints convincing portraits of human resilience, cultural displacement, and social injustice.
In his novel A Fine Balance, he shows readers India during the 1975 Emergency, through the eyes of four characters bound together by hardship and hope.
Jhumpa Lahiri explores themes of immigrant experiences, identity struggles, cultural displacement, and family relationships. Her insightful and clear stories highlight the emotional complexities involved in navigating two cultures.
In her book The Namesake, Lahiri beautifully portrays the inner conflicts and identity challenges of an Indian-American named Gogol as he attempts to find his place between his American upbringing and Indian heritage.
Hanif Kureishi's writing is lively and insightful, focused on cultural identity, sexuality, and family dynamics, often exploring immigrant experiences in contemporary Britain.
In his novel The Buddha of Suburbia, Kureishi humorously captures the confusion and energy of a young man's coming-of-age journey while navigating racial tensions and personal identity.
V.S. Naipaul writes with sharp clarity, deeply exploring subjects like displacement, postcolonial societies, and personal alienation.
His novel A House for Mr Biswas tells the story of a man striving to build an identity and legacy in colonial Trinidad, highlighting struggles faced by immigrants seeking stability and self-definition.
Salman Rushdie's work weaves together magical realism, history, and cultural myth to examine complex themes of identity, spirituality, and politics.
His acclaimed novel Midnight's Children follows Saleem Sinai, a child born at India's independence, who shares a magical connection with the country's destiny and experiences profound personal and historical transformations.
Anita Desai creates nuanced stories about characters grappling with family tensions, cultural pressures, and personal isolation.
Her novel Clear Light of Day thoughtfully portrays siblings reuniting after many years, revealing deep emotional wounds caused by unresolved conflicts, the passage of time, and shifting values in post-independence India.
Arundhati Roy writes beautifully, creating vivid images and characters who struggle with love, societal expectations, and political turbulence.
In her book The God of Small Things, Roy examines the lives of twins navigating the complexities and tragedies of family secrets, caste divisions, and forbidden relationships in southern India.
Manju Kapur writes fiction that explores Indian family life, marriage, social pressures, and women's search for identity. Her storytelling is intimate and thoughtful, bringing to life contemporary India and the struggles her characters face between tradition and modernity.
Her novel Difficult Daughters follows a woman named Virmati as she seeks education and independence, challenging the expectations of her conservative Punjabi family.
Akhil Sharma writes novels infused with emotional honesty and quiet depth. He focuses on immigrant experiences, family trauma, and cultural isolation, crafting clear, direct prose that feels emotionally real without ever becoming overly sentimental.
His novel Family Life, inspired by his own experience, explores an Indian family's struggle with tragedy after immigrating to America and how they cope with loss, guilt, and resilience.
Nayomi Munaweera is a gifted storyteller whose vivid prose captures life in war-torn Sri Lanka and the experiences of migration and displacement. Her narratives often revolve around identity, family secrets, and the haunting impact of the past.
In her novel Island of a Thousand Mirrors, she portrays two families from opposite sides of Sri Lanka's civil war, weaving together their struggles, griefs, and hopes with sensitivity and depth.
Sunjeev Sahota creates narratives that delve into contemporary immigrant life, belonging, and the struggles people face building new lives in unfamiliar places.
His writing is powerful yet restrained, immersing readers deeply in his characters' emotional and physical circumstances.
His novel The Year of the Runaways vividly portrays the harsh realities faced by undocumented Indian immigrants in Britain, illuminating their sacrifices, determination, and the quiet dignity of survival.
Ocean Vuong is a poet and novelist whose language brims with intensity, vulnerability, and poetic beauty. His writing explores themes of identity, family memory, trauma, and the immigrant experience.
His novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous unfolds as a letter from a young Vietnamese-American to his mother. Through lyrical prose and raw honesty, Vuong reflects on generational trauma, sexuality, and the complexities of love and reconciliation.