express news service
Hoping the worst of the pandemic is over, 2022 was the year Indian literature bounced back. Daisy Rockwell’s translation of Geetanjali Shree’s Let Samadhi was published as Tomb of Sand and was a huge success, winning the 2022 International Booker Prize. But there were other books that fascinated, moved, informed and provoked.
1.’The Mendicant Prince by Aruna Chakravarti
Publisher: Picador
A fictionalized retelling of the Bhawal Sanyasi incident. This verifies the veracity of the mendicant’s claim that he was the heir to a certain mendicant who had long been presumed dead.
Principality of Bengal.
2.’“Tears of Begum” by Kwaja Hasan Nizami translated from Urdu Rana Sahvi
Publisher: Hachette India
“A Survivor’s Story of the 1857 Riots” is subtitled and offers a heartbreaking glimpse into the Mughal royal family since 1857.
3. Wendy Doniger’s “Indian American Girl”
Publisher: Speaking Tiger
A memoir that provides an insight into India in the early 1960s and the mind and heart of one of the world’s most celebrated Indian scholars.
Four. “Taranath Tantra and Other Stories of the Supernatural” by Vibhtibushan, Translated from Bengali, Devarina Mukherjee
Publisher: Speaking Tiger
Bengali is eerie and chilling. Recommended for those who like nostalgic horror novels.
Five. “Speaking in Tongues: Poetry in Spanish, Mandarin and Turkish” by Kiran Bhatt
Publisher: Red River
A poem of discovery, travel and philosophy. To come out and grow, to seek yourself and find a partner.
6. The Dreams of ‘a Mappila Girl’ by BM Zuhara, translated from Malayalam by Fehmida Zakeer
Publisher: Sage Yoda
A provocative and very interesting memoir of growing up in the Mappila family in 1950s Kerala.
7. “Birdwatching” by Stephen Alter
Publisher: Aleph
In 1962, ornithology and spy games meet in Sikkim and the surrounding wilderness. High adventure, a glimpse into India’s modern history, and a bird fascination.
8. ‘Black River’ by Niranjana Roy
Publisher: Westland
The river is the Yamuna, and crime lurks on its banks: Delhi and beyond. A murder mystery woven with poignant and thought-provoking insights into grime of all kinds.
9. “The First World War Adventures of Nariman Karkaria” Translated from Gujarati by Nariman Karkaria and Murali Ranganathan
Publisher: HarperCollins
The witty and incredible adventures of a young Percy who fled to China, traveled through Europe and fought through World War I.
Ten. “Hyderabad” by Manreet Sodhi Samshwar
Publisher: HarperCollins
The second volume of Sodhi Someshwar’s The Partition Trilogy is about Hyderabad in 1947. Division, intrigue, tension. An interesting blend of real and fictional characters, all thrown into chaos.
