Anita Desai’s novel juxtaposes the lives of siblings Uma and Arun to explore family dynamics and cultural contrasts between India and the United States.
The narrative contrasts Uma’s stifled existence under traditional expectations in India with Arun’s own form of isolation as a student in America, deftly examining themes of gender roles, duty, and desire to reveal the universal nature of confinement.
Weaving together the memories of two families across Calcutta, London, and Dhaka, The Shadow Lines is a profound meditation on the nature of borders, memory, and national identity.
Narrated by a young man piecing together his family’s past, the novel questions the arbitrary lines that divide people and nations, particularly in the wake of India’s Partition, illustrating how personal histories are irrevocably shaped by political events.
This whimsical novel follows Sampath Chawla, a young man who escapes the drudgery of his life by climbing a guava tree, where he is unexpectedly hailed as a sage.
Set in a small Indian town, the book is a sharp, humorous satire on faith, family expectations, and the absurdities of modern life, offering a lighthearted critique of societal conventions.
Salman Rushdie’s landmark novel chronicles the life of Saleem Sinai, born at the exact moment of India’s independence, whose destiny is inextricably linked to that of his country.
Using magical realism, the narrative serves as a sprawling, allegorical epic of post-colonial India, exploring themes of history, memory, and the immense, chaotic story of a new nation.
Set in Kerala, this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells the story of fraternal twins Rahel and Estha, whose lives are shattered by a family tragedy in their childhood.
Arundhati Roy’s lyrical prose examines the destructive power of the caste system, forbidden love, and societal hypocrisy, showing how "small things" and seemingly minor transgressions can have catastrophic consequences.
One of the longest novels in English, this sprawling saga is set in early 1950s post-independence India and centers on Mrs. Rupa Mehra’s quest to find a suitable husband for her daughter, Lata.
The search becomes a lens through which Seth explores the vast tapestry of Indian life, including political turmoil, family dynamics, religious tensions, and the clash between tradition and modernity.
Through a series of letters to the Chinese Premier, chauffeur Balram Halwai recounts his journey from a poverty-stricken village to entrepreneurial success in Bangalore.
This Booker Prize-winning novel is a searing, darkly humorous indictment of the deep-seated corruption and class inequality in contemporary India’s "new economy," exposing the vast chasm between the rich and the poor.
Set in the 1980s at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga, this novel intertwines the stories of an embittered, retired judge; his orphaned granddaughter, Sai; their cook; and the cook's son, Biju, who is living as an undocumented immigrant in New York.
Kiran Desai powerfully captures the sense of dislocation and cultural alienation felt by characters grappling with colonialism's legacy, globalization, and the search for identity.
Khushwant Singh’s stark and powerful novel is set in the fictional border village of Mano Majra during the 1947 Partition of India. When a train carrying the bodies of slaughtered refugees arrives, the village's long-standing harmony is shattered.
The novel is a harrowing and deeply humane account of how political hatred infects ordinary lives, forcing characters to make devastating moral choices.
This Booker Prize-winning novel interweaves two stories: one set in the 1920s about Olivia, a young English wife who has a scandalous affair with an Indian prince, and the other in the 1970s about her grand-niece, who travels to India to uncover the truth.
Jhabvala expertly explores the complexities of Anglo-Indian relations, colonialism, and the timeless allure and challenges of India for Westerners.
The first book in the Ibis Trilogy, Sea of Poppies is set just before the First Opium War and follows a diverse group of characters aboard the Ibis, a former slave ship bound for Mauritius with a cargo of indentured servants.
Ghosh masterfully reconstructs the colonial opium trade, weaving together a rich tapestry of stories that explore themes of migration, class, and the epic upheaval of 19th-century Asia.
Set in contemporary Mumbai, the novel centers on Nariman Vakeel, a 79-year-old Parsi patriarch afflicted with Parkinson's, whose care becomes a source of conflict for his middle-class family.
Mistry provides a compassionate and keenly observed portrait of familial duty, generational divides, and the strains of urban life, using one family’s story to explore broader social and moral issues.
This groundbreaking novel from 1935 depicts a single day in the life of Bakha, a young latrine cleaner who belongs to India's "untouchable" caste. Through a series of humiliating encounters, the novel exposes the brutal reality of caste oppression and social injustice.
Anand's work is a powerful and poignant plea for a more humane and equal society.
Anita Desai's novel revisits the Das family home in Old Delhi, where two sisters, Bim and Tara, reunite and confront their shared past and divergent presents.
Moving gracefully between their childhood before Partition and their adulthood after, the book is a subtle and moving exploration of memory, forgiveness, familial resentment, and the passage of time.
Gustad Noble, a decent and diligent bank clerk from Bombay's Parsi community, finds his life thrown into turmoil when he receives a request from an old friend that draws him into a web of government corruption and political intrigue during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
The novel is a rich, tragicomic exploration of faith, family, and maintaining integrity in a corrupt world.
This sprawling epic thriller plunges into the dark underworld of Mumbai, intertwining the stories of Sartaj Singh, a cynical but honest police inspector, and Ganesh Gaitonde, the city’s most notorious gangster.
The novel is a masterful exploration of the complex nexus of crime, politics, and religion in modern India, creating a panoramic and unforgettable portrait of a city and its secrets.
Arundhati Roy’s second novel weaves together the lives of a diverse and marginalized cast of characters, including Anjum, an intersex woman who builds a new home in a city graveyard, and Tilo, an architect entangled with three men in the Kashmir conflict.
It is a sprawling, ambitious, and deeply compassionate novel about love, identity, and finding sanctuary in a fractured world.
Told from the perspective of an elderly woman, this classic novel recounts the impact of Mahatma Gandhi’s independence movement on a small, caste-ridden village in South India.
Kanthapura masterfully captures the spirit of the freedom struggle as it transformed ordinary lives, blending the style of ancient oral storytelling with modern political consciousness to create a foundational text of Indian English literature.
Ram Mohammad Thomas, an uneducated young waiter from a Mumbai slum, is arrested after winning a billion rupees on a TV quiz show, accused of cheating. To prove his innocence, he explains how each question on the show relates to a dramatic event in his own life.
The novel, which inspired the film Slumdog Millionaire, is a vibrant and compelling tale of survival, luck, and resilience.
This novel retells the epic Mahabharata from the perspective of its powerful heroine, Draupadi. Born from fire and married to five princes, her voice gives new life to an ancient story of war, passion, and destiny.
Divakaruni provides a rich, intimate portrait of a woman navigating a patriarchal world, offering a feminist re-imagining of one of India's most important myths.
Agastya Sen, a thoroughly urbanized and anglicized young man, is posted to a small, rural town as a civil servant. His experience is one of profound cultural dislocation and existential ennui.
The novel is a witty and satirical look at the Indian bureaucracy and the disconnect between urban elites and rural reality, perfectly capturing the sense of alienation felt by a generation.
Narrated by a young man in Mumbai, this novel is a tender, funny, and heart-wrenching account of growing up with a mother who has bipolar disorder.
Based on the author’s own experiences, it explores the impact of mental illness on a family with extraordinary love and compassion, creating an intimate and unforgettable portrait of resilience and devotion.
Set in the Sundarbans, the vast and treacherous mangrove forest of the Bengal delta, this novel brings together three people from different worlds: an American marine biologist, a Delhi-based translator, and an illiterate local fisherman.
The story is a profound meditation on the environment, human displacement, and the complex relationship between nature and civilization in a fragile landscape.
Set during the political turmoil of "The Emergency" in the 1970s, this novel follows four strangers—a determined widow, a spirited student, and two tailors who have fled caste violence—whose lives become intertwined in a small Bombay apartment.
It is a sweeping and deeply compassionate epic about the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming political and social injustice.
The first of R.K. Narayan's novels set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi, this book introduces the charming and mischievous ten-year-old Swaminathan.
Through Swami's everyday adventures with his friends, the novel beautifully captures the innocence and anxieties of childhood in pre-independence, colonial India, establishing the gentle humor and keen observation that would define Narayan's work.
This novel follows the Ganguli family, from their arranged marriage in Calcutta to their new life in America, and centers on their son, Gogol, who struggles with his unusual name and the burden of his bicultural identity.
Lahiri sensitively explores the immigrant experience, the complexities of assimilation, and the eternal push and pull between family tradition and individual desire.
Raju, a charismatic but unscrupulous tour guide, is transformed by circumstance from a charming rogue into a revered holy man. Set in the fictional town of Malgudi, the novel is a brilliant tragicomedy that explores themes of transformation, deception, and spiritual identity, raising profound questions about the nature of sin and redemption.
In a small fishing village near Bombay, siblings Lila and Hari face immense hardship when their mother falls ill and their father descends into alcoholism. While Lila cares for the family at home, Hari travels to the city in search of work, finding a world in the midst of overwhelming change.
This poignant story explores resilience, adaptation, and the clash between tradition and industrialization.
Based on the author’s own experiences, Tamas (meaning "Darkness") is a powerful and chilling novel about the 1947 Partition riots in a small Punjabi town.
It portrays how political manipulation and religious fanaticism ignite violence among communities that had lived together peacefully for generations, serving as a stark reminder of the human tragedy of Partition.
Deven, a down-on-his-luck college lecturer, sees a chance to escape his mundane life when he gets an assignment to interview Nur, a celebrated but now decrepit Urdu poet. His attempts to capture the poet’s genius on tape descend into chaos, serving as a poignant allegory for the decline of Urdu language and culture in modern India.
This historical novel reimagines the life of the 16th-century Rajput prince Bhoj Raj, whose wife, Mirabai, is not in love with him but with the god Krishna. The Maharaj Kumar navigates court intrigue, battles, and his own complex feelings of love, jealousy, and duty.
Cuckold is a brilliant exploration of devotion, politics, and the private struggles behind historical legends.
Spanning a century and three countries—Burma, India, and Malaya—this epic novel traces the fortunes of a diverse cast of characters whose lives are shaped by the fall of the Burmese monarchy and the rise of the British Empire.
It is a sweeping historical saga about love, war, and the diasporic connections that link families across generations and continents.
A cornerstone of Hindi literature, Godan (The Gift of a Cow) tells the tragic story of Hori Mahato, a poor peasant whose greatest desire is to own a cow, a symbol of dignity and prosperity.
Through Hori's struggles with debt, drought, and social exploitation, Premchand paints a vivid and heartbreaking picture of rural village life and systemic poverty in early 20th-century India.
Narrated by a cantankerous, aging writer, this novel takes the reader on a sprawling journey through the turbulent history of Delhi.
Interspersed with the narrator’s own amorous escapades are vivid, often brutal, historical accounts from different eras, presenting the city itself as the central character—enduring, resilient, and witness to centuries of glory and carnage.
Narrated by "Animal," a nineteen-year-old boy whose spine was twisted into a permanent crawl by a chemical plant disaster, this novel is set in the fictional city of Khaufpur, which is haunted by "that night."
Based on the Bhopal gas tragedy, it is a fierce, funny, and unforgettable story about one community’s fight for justice and the defiant spirit of its survivors.
A landmark of Hindi satirical fiction, this novel exposes the corruption, nepotism, and moral decay of post-independence rural India through the eyes of Ranganath, a city-bred student visiting his uncle in the village of Shivpalganj. The novel is a ruthless and hilarious critique of the breakdown of political and social institutions.
This slim, powerful novella, translated from Kannada, follows a family in Bangalore whose fortunes change overnight when they start a successful spice company.
Seen through the eyes of the passive, unemployed narrator, their newfound wealth begins to subtly corrode their relationships and morals, revealing the hidden tensions that money can create within a close-knit family.
After her mother’s death, a privileged young woman from Bangalore, Shalini, travels to the politically fraught region of Kashmir in search of a man from her mother’s past. There, she becomes entangled in the lives of a family and is forced to confront the violent realities of the conflict, as well as her own complicity and naivete.
Set within the Parsi community of Mumbai, this novel tells the story of Phiroze Elchidana, the son of a priest who falls in love with the daughter of a khandhia, a corpse bearer. To marry her, he must join this ostracized profession, leading to a life of social stigma. It is a poignant and powerful story about caste, love, and human dignity.
Told through the innocent yet perceptive eyes of Lenny, a young Parsee girl, this novel vividly portrays the chaos and horror of the Partition of India in 1947 Lahore.
As her world is shattered by communal violence, Lenny watches as her beloved Hindu ayah becomes a victim, offering a deeply personal and unforgettable perspective on a national tragedy.
In this novel set in Malgudi, a young man named Chandran finishes college and must navigate the tricky transition into adulthood. He falls passionately in love, is thwarted by tradition, renounces the world to become a wandering ascetic, and eventually returns to a more conventional life.
It is a gentle, humorous, and wise story about the universal journey of self-discovery.
In a small Himalayan village, a young girl named Binya trades her lucky leopard's claw necklace for a beautiful blue umbrella. The umbrella becomes her prized possession and the envy of the village, especially the local shopkeeper. This charming novella is a simple yet profound tale about desire, generosity, and kindness.
The first book in the Shiva Trilogy, this blockbuster mythological fantasy reimagines the god Shiva as a mortal Tibetan chieftain who is drawn to the land of Meluha. The people there believe he is their foretold savior, destined to lead them in a war against their enemies. The novel is a fast-paced adventure that blends mythology with philosophy.
Set in Amritsar during the years leading up to Partition, this novel tells the story of Virmati, a young woman torn between her duty to her conservative family and her love for a married professor. As she fights for an education and personal freedom, her story is set against the backdrop of India's struggle for independence.
This classic adventure novel follows the life of Kimball O’Hara, an orphaned Irish boy who grows up as a street urchin in Lahore.
He becomes the disciple of a Tibetan lama and is later recruited as a spy for the British, embarking on a journey across India that paints a rich, panoramic picture of the country's diverse cultures during the British Raj.
Akhila, a 45-year-old single woman, decides to break free from her stifling family life by taking a one-way train ticket to the sea. In the "ladies coupé" (women-only compartment), she asks her fellow passengers if a woman can live alone and be happy.
Their shared stories create a powerful exploration of women’s desires, compromises, and search for independence in modern India.
Geeta, a modern, educated young woman from Mumbai, marries into a traditional, aristocratic family and moves into their ancestral haveli (mansion) in Udaipur.
The novel sensitively portrays her journey of adjustment to the rigid customs and patriarchal traditions of her new life, exploring the tensions between modernity and tradition in post-independence India.
This lush, lyrical novel, set in the 1920s, tells the story of Anuradha and Vardhmaan, whose passionate love is beset by tragedy and family secrets. The narrative is a rich and dreamlike exploration of love, loss, and art, written in an opulent style that evokes a bygone era of Indian aristocracy.
Set in the beautiful, mountainous region of Coorg in southern India, this sweeping historical novel follows the life of Devi, a spirited young woman, and the complex web of love, friendship, and betrayal that binds her to her childhood friend Devanna and her husband Machu. It is an epic story of passion and fate spanning several decades.
Spanning seventy years in Kerala, South India, this magnificent novel follows three generations of a family that suffers from a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning.
At its center is Big Ammachi, who becomes a matriarch and witness to a century of immense change, from the colonial era to the modern day, in this moving tribute to love, faith, and medicine.
Anjali Bose, a young woman from a provincial town, flees an arranged marriage and reinvents herself as "Angie" in the bustling tech hub of Bangalore. The novel captures the energy and ambition of India’s new, globalized economy, exploring the opportunities and challenges for young women navigating the clash between tradition and modernity.
Set in a small Parsi apartment complex in Mumbai, this novel weaves together the stories of its residents, focusing on the upcoming wedding of the landlord’s son. Through poignant flashbacks, Umrigar reveals the hopes, regrets, and secrets of this close-knit community, creating a moving portrait of the enduring power of friendship and memory.
In this quietly devastating novel from Malgudi, Savitri, a dutiful wife and mother, is pushed to her limits by her husband's cruelty and infidelity. After a final confrontation, she attempts to leave him, seeking independence in a society that offers women few options.
The novel is a subtle but powerful critique of patriarchal norms and a compassionate study of a woman's quest for self-respect.
In the small, dusty town of Pipalnagar, a struggling writer named Arun dreams of making it big in the bustling metropolis of Delhi. He and his friends—a consumptive barber and an orphaned street urchin—find solace in their shared aspirations and simple pleasures.
The novel is a gentle, melancholic reflection on friendship, ambition, and the quiet lives of ordinary people.
This multigenerational saga traces the story of the Dorai family in a village in southern India, from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century. Spanning a period of immense social and political change, the novel explores themes of caste, tradition, and the family's journey from a feudal past to a more modern future.
In rural Tamil Nadu, a couple, Kali and Ponna, are deeply in love but are ostracized and tormented by their community for being childless. In their desperation, they consider an ancient temple festival ritual that would allow Ponna to sleep with another man for one night to conceive.
The novel is a poignant and powerful examination of the conflict between societal pressure and individual desire.
This classic novel of the British Raj explores the fraught relationship between the English colonizers and the native population of India.
When a young Englishwoman, Adela Quested, accuses an Indian doctor, Dr. Aziz, of assault during a trip to the Marabar Caves, the incident ignites a storm of racial prejudice, exposing the deep cultural and political chasm between the two communities.
Madhav, a boy from rural Bihar, falls in love with Riya, a wealthy, English-speaking girl from Delhi, while they are at college. Their different backgrounds create a complex dynamic, leading Riya to propose she be his "half girlfriend."
The novel explores themes of class, language, and the challenges of modern relationships in a rapidly changing India.
A journalist in Delhi is informed by the police that they have captured five hitmen hired to kill him. He decides to investigate who they are and why they wanted him dead, a journey that takes him deep into the dark underbelly of provincial India. The novel is a raw and visceral look at crime, caste, and corruption in contemporary India.
In a small Brahmin village, a moral and spiritual crisis erupts when a heretical Brahmin dies. The other Brahmins refuse to perform his funeral rites (samskara), leading the village's revered scholar to question the very foundations of his beliefs.
This seminal work of modern Indian literature is a profound philosophical inquiry into caste, tradition, and spiritual integrity.
Set in early 20th-century Bengal, this novel explores the clash between tradition, modernity, and nationalism through a love triangle involving a wealthy landowner, his wife, and a radical political leader.
Tagore uses the personal turmoil of his characters to critique the dangers of blind nationalism and to explore the complexities of freedom, both for the nation and for the individual.
A young Hindu photographer in modern Delhi falls off a bridge and finds himself transported back to 1942, in the midst of the Quit India Movement. He is taken in by a Muslim family, and must navigate the turbulent final years of British rule.
The novel uses magical realism to explore themes of identity, memory, and the complex history of Partition.
On the staircase of a Mumbai apartment building, a handyman named Vishnu lies dying, his impending death stirring the lives of the building's residents.
As they bicker over Vishnu's fate and the future of his spot on the landing, their stories unfold, creating a rich, humorous, and deeply moving portrait of the intersection of class, religion, and humanity in a microcosm of modern India.
This novel traces the life of Meera, from her childhood in a privileged Delhi family through her tumultuous marriage and obsessive motherhood, set against the backdrop of post-independence India.
Meera's personal journey mirrors the political and social upheavals of her country, exploring themes of female desire, identity, and the powerful bond between mother and son.
This wildly popular novel follows the adventures of three friends—Hari, Ryan, and Alok—as they struggle to survive the immense academic pressure of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
A humorous and relatable story about friendship and rebellion, it offers a sharp critique of the Indian education system's obsession with grades over genuine learning.
A novel of intense psychological realism, Chokher Bali ("A Grain of Sand in the Eye") centers on Binodini, a beautiful, intelligent, and educated young widow. When she enters the home of a newly married couple, her presence disrupts their lives, unleashing a complex web of desire, jealousy, and forbidden emotion.
The novel is a groundbreaking exploration of female sexuality and societal constraints in 19th-century Bengal.
This powerful novel tells the story of Puro, a young Hindu woman who is abducted by a Muslim man on the eve of Partition. Renamed and forced into a new life, Puro becomes a symbol of the thousands of women who were victims of the communal violence.
Pinjar ("The Skeleton") is a haunting and compassionate exploration of trauma, identity, and the shared humanity that transcends religious divides.
After the death of her husband, a young woman named Maya leaves the city and seeks refuge in a small, remote town in the Himalayas. As she rebuilds her life, she becomes entwined with the eccentric residents and the political unrest brewing in the mountains. The novel is a beautifully written, atmospheric story of grief, healing, and resilience.
This novel follows Lalu, a young sepoy from a Punjabi village, who is sent to fight for the British in the trenches of World War I. Anand vividly portrays the horror and disillusionment of the war through the eyes of an Indian soldier, exploring themes of colonialism, identity, and the exploitation of colonial subjects in a global conflict.
When Mr. and Mrs. Jha of East Delhi come into an unexpected fortune, they decide to move to the wealthy suburb of Gurgaon. This lighthearted and witty novel follows their attempts to navigate their new social circle and the anxieties of newfound wealth.
The Windfall is a sharp and funny social satire about class, aspiration, and the changing face of middle-class India.
In 1950s Jaipur, seventeen-year-old Lakshmi escapes an abusive marriage and becomes the most sought-after henna artist for the city's wealthy elite. She maintains their secrets and confidences, but her carefully constructed life is threatened when her husband reappears, bringing with him a sister she never knew she had.
This vibrant novel is a captivating story of ambition, independence, and sisterhood.
Zoya Solanki, an ordinary advertising executive, is discovered to be a lucky charm for the Indian cricket team. Her presence at matches seems to guarantee victory, catapulting her to national fame but putting her on a collision course with the handsome, skeptical team captain who believes only in hard work.
This witty and sparkling romance is a delightful satire on India’s obsession with cricket and superstition.
In the holy city of Varanasi, two childhood friends, Gopal and Raghav, find themselves on different paths as they compete for success and the love of the same girl. Gopal pursues wealth through a corrupt private college, while Raghav becomes a crusading journalist. The novel explores themes of love, ambition, and corruption in modern India.
After her husband's death, Tehmina Sethna, a Parsi widow from Mumbai, travels to America to live with her son's family. There, she must navigate the cultural gap between her traditional Indian values and the modern, suburban life of her family, grappling with loneliness and the search for a new sense of purpose and home.
Sarita, a successful doctor, leaves her abusive husband and returns to her childhood home, only to be met with the stony silence of her mother. The novel delves into Sarita's past to uncover the source of her trauma, exploring themes of gender, marriage, and a woman's struggle for identity and self-worth in a patriarchal society.
Raman, a meticulous and traditional painter of signboards in Malgudi, finds his orderly life turned upside down when he falls for Daisy, a fervent and fiercely independent advocate for birth control. Their relationship highlights the clash between traditional values and modern ideas, in a wise and witty exploration of love and social change.
Subtitled "Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife," this raw and unflinching novel is a fictionalized account of an abusive marriage. The narrator, a young writer, uses her intellect and her art as a form of resistance against her controlling husband.
It is a powerful and courageous exploration of domestic violence, trauma, and the fight to reclaim one’s voice.
This epic historical novel tells the story of Jaya, a princess of a Rajput state, whose life spans the final decades of the British Raj and the birth of modern India. As she navigates the rigid traditions of her world and the political upheavals around her, her personal journey mirrors the larger transformation of her country.
A real estate developer makes a lucrative offer to buy out an aging apartment building in Mumbai, but one resident—a retired schoolteacher known as Masterji—refuses to leave. His defiance pits neighbor against neighbor, creating a tense moral drama about community, greed, and the human cost of modernization in a rapidly developing city.
The final novel in the Ibis Trilogy, Flood of Fire brings the saga to its spectacular conclusion during the First Opium War. The story follows several characters from the previous books as their paths converge on the battlefields of China, creating a powerful and panoramic account of the colonial greed and global ambition that reshaped the world.
This collection of interconnected short stories is set in the fictional South Indian town of Kittur in the seven-year period between the assassinations of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi.
Adiga creates a vivid portrait of the town by moving between characters from all walks of life—from a bomb-making radical to a corrupt businessman—exposing the deep-seated inequalities of caste, class, and religion.
This semi-autobiographical, philosophical novel tells the story of Ramaswamy, a young Indian Brahmin studying in France, and his marriage to a French woman, Madeleine. Their relationship becomes a metaphor for the intellectual and spiritual encounter between Eastern and Western cultures.
The novel is a dense and profound exploration of identity, metaphysics, and the nature of reality.
A sprawling, inventive, and humorous chronicle, this novel traces the history of seven generations of the Trotter family, an Anglo-Indian clan. Told in the style of a Moghul nama (a dynastic history), it is a magnificent saga about hybrid identity and the search for belonging in the centuries-long twilight of colonial India.
In a small town in Punjab, a thirteen-year-old girl is found barely alive in a house where thirteen members of her family have been murdered, and she is the sole suspect. A sharp, independent social worker is called in to investigate, uncovering a dark web of secrets and a history of female feticide.
This gripping crime novel is also a powerful social commentary.
Based on the author’s own life, this bestselling romance tells the story of Krish, a Punjabi boy, and Ananya, a Tamil girl, who fall in love at college and must then persuade their culturally different families to accept their union. The novel is a lighthearted and humorous look at the challenges of intercultural marriage in India.
This novel provides a sensitive and nuanced look at the breakdown of a marriage in modern, middle-class Delhi. When Shagun leaves her husband Raman for another man, it sets off a bitter and painful custody battle for their two children, exploring the emotional toll that divorce takes on an entire family.
Rakhi, an Indian-American artist and single mother, struggles to understand her enigmatic mother, a dream-teller who kept her past in India a secret. After her mother’s death, Rakhi discovers her dream journals, embarking on a journey to uncover her family’s history and reconcile the different parts of her own identity.
This fast-paced thriller weaves together parallel narratives across history, connecting a series of modern-day murders to a secret society and a controversial theory about the life of Jesus Christ in India. The novel is a complex puzzle of religion, history, and conspiracy that spans continents and centuries.
This debut novel is a lyrical and ambitious journey across the Indian subcontinent, from the Andaman Islands to the Karakoram mountains.
It tells the interconnected stories of characters whose lives are deeply intertwined with the natural world—its ghosts, its geology, its flora and fauna—exploring the profound connections between humanity and the environment.
In 1974, a young teacher named Charulata takes a job at a remote all-girls boarding school in the hills of Panchgani. The school’s placid surface is shattered by the mysterious death of another teacher, drawing Charu into a web of secrets, scandal, and forbidden relationships in this atmospheric coming-of-age novel.
This novel tells the story of the powerful but fragile bond between two women in Mumbai: Sera, an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife, and Bhima, her devoted but impoverished servant. Umrigar poignantly explores the vast social and economic gulf that separates them, examining how class and privilege shape their lives and their relationship.
The novel begins in Pondicherry, India, with the story of Piscine "Pi" Patel, the son of a zookeeper. When his family decides to emigrate to Canada, their ship sinks in the Pacific, leaving Pi stranded on a lifeboat with an unlikely companion: a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
It is an extraordinary tale of survival, faith, and the power of storytelling.
This historical novel focuses on Princess Jahanara, the eldest daughter of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal. After her mother's death, Jahanara becomes the most powerful woman in the empire, but she must navigate the treacherous politics of the court and a brutal war of succession between her brothers.
This powerful graphic novel tells the story of its title character, a young queer woman adrift in the sprawling metropolis of Mumbai. After a failed suicide pact, Kari navigates friendship, love, and loss, her story rendered in evocative prose and stunning artwork.
The novel is an intimate and poetic exploration of identity, loneliness, and urban life.
A dazzling work of experimental and comic fiction, this novel follows the misadventures of H. Hatterr, a Eurasian man on a quest for wisdom from the seven sages of India. The book is famous for its linguistic invention and playful, philosophical style, creating a one-of-a-kind narrative that has been hugely influential on postcolonial literature.
Devdutt Pattanaik retells the ancient epic of the Mahabharata in an accessible and engaging style, accompanied by his own distinctive illustrations.
He weaves together hundreds of stories from regional and folk variations of the epic, adding commentary that explores the timeless philosophical and moral questions of dharma, karma, and human conflict.
Written when the author was seventeen, this classic coming-of-age story follows Rusty, an orphaned Anglo-Indian boy, who escapes his strict guardian to live with a group of Indian friends. Set in Dehradun, the novel beautifully captures the joy and confusion of adolescence, friendship, and first love in a newly independent India.
Arzee, a projectionist at a classic old cinema in Mumbai, is short in stature but has big dreams of love and a better life. This sensitive and insightful novel follows Arzee as he navigates the challenges of the city, his own insecurities, and his quest for dignity and companionship, creating a memorable portrait of a man on the margins.
Drawing from a lesser-known tale in the Mahabharata, this novel tells the story of King Yuvanashva, who accidentally drinks a magic potion meant for his wives and becomes pregnant. The story explores themes of gender, parenthood, and societal norms, asking profound questions about the nature of identity and what it means to be a man or a woman.
A landmark of Oriya literature, this novel chronicles the life of a tribal family in rural Odisha whose land and dignity are systematically stripped away by corrupt moneylenders and officials. It is a powerful and tragic story of exploitation and the destruction of an indigenous way of life, told with immense empathy and realism.
Set in ancient India against the backdrop of the Mahabharata, Devdutt Pattanaik’s novel tells the story of King Yuvanashva, who experiences a miraculous pregnancy, challenging traditional notions of gender, power, and parenthood.
Blending mythology and philosophy, the narrative explores complex themes such as identity, societal norms, duty, and the fluid boundaries of gender roles, prompting reflection on the nature of acceptance and differing forms of human experience.