India’s First Radicals: Young Bengal and the British Empire, Rosinka Chaudhuri
In 1831, the editor of the India Gazette wrote a report about a group he called the “Radicals”, “Ultra-Reformers” or “the Ultras”, who were responsible for an unprecedented upheaval in social, religious and political thinking centred in Calcutta. Later named “Young Bengal”, these students of Henry Derozio at the Hindu College had embarked upon a collision course with orthodoxy and authority, generating scandal and sensation in equal measure.
Focusing on their activities twelve years later in 1843, this book examines their achievements in a radical reassessment of their contribution. That year saw Young Bengal argue for the rights of the peasant, campaign against corruption in the police and judiciary, bring a legal case against a British magistrate for the mistreatment of labourers, and continue their fight against racial, gender and caste discrimination in society. It also marked the formation of the first Indian political party.
India’s First Radicals seeks to rethink the activities of Young Bengal, whose pioneering contributions to public discourse and the changes they wrought were among the earliest shifts to define modern India as we now know it.
The House of Awadh: A Hidden Tragedy, Aletta André and Abhimanyu Kumar
In Delhi’s Ridge Forest lies Malcha Mahal, which was home to a family cloaked in mystery: Begum Wilayat Mahal and her children, Princess Sakina and Prince Ali Raza-self-proclaimed descendants of the House of Awadh. From their dramatic arrival at New Delhi Railway Station in 1975, where they squatted for a decade, to their last years in a decaying monument-their story weaves together colonial injustices, Partition’s upheaval and modern India’s struggles with identity.
Were they true heirs to a lost kingdom, delusional outcasts, or cunning impostors? Drawing on cross-border reportage, archives and intimate interviews, Aletta André and Abhimanyu Kumar explore the family’s audacious claims as they bring to life an ambitious woman and her sensitive children. They also present a new account of the tragedy of Awadh and its slow ruin, as well as that of India-Pakistan relations from Independence to the present.
Students Etched In Memory, Perumal Murugan, translated from the Tamil by Iswarya V
While Murugan is widely acclaimed for his novels, this collection reveals another facet of his work – as a teacher, mentor and keen observer of young minds.
In these deeply personal essays, Murugan offers an intimate look into the lives of college students from small-town Tamil Nadu. Each is a portrait of youth, where the pursuit of education becomes a journey not just of academic growth, but of self-discovery. Through his sharp yet compassionate observations, Murugan captures the delicate balance between the quest for knowledge and the search for identity, belonging and purpose.
The Great Épinal Escape: Indian Prisoners of War in German Hands, Ghee Bowman
On 11 May 1944, just four weeks before D-Day, 67 American heavy bombers dropped 168 tons of bombs on the sunlit French town of Épinal on the Moselle River. Unbeknownst to the aircrew of the “Mighty Eighth”, this was the temporary home of over 3,000 Indian prisoners of war – and these bombs had just taken down the walls.
The escapees took food and clothes and set off for the border. If they could make it to Switzerland, neutral territory, they would be safe. But between them and their goal were thousands of Nazis, collaborators and over 100 kilometres of French countryside.
The Great Épinal Escape is the incredible story of the most successful escape of the Second World War. It is the story of how, during a period showcasing the worst of humanity – a period marked by brutality, bloodlust and fascism – ordinary people were able to demonstrate the best of humanity: resilience, support and a warm welcome. Ultimately, it is a story of hope.
The Mother: A Life of Sri Aurobindo’s Spiritual Collaborator, Peter Heehs
In 1914, a Frenchwoman named Mirra Alfassa arrived in India and met the revolutionary-turned-philosopher Sri Aurobindo. She would come to be known as the Mother, Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual collaborator and the guiding force behind his ashram in Pondicherry.
Born into a family of well-to-do Ottoman Jews, Mirra’s early life was shaped by art, intellectual inquiry and a longing for spiritual awakening. Her journey took her across countries, from Paris and Algeria to Japan and finally India, where she embraced a vision of unity that transcended national and cultural boundaries. Declaring herself “Indian by choice”, she sought to harmonise the wisdom of the East with the modernity of the West.
Based on Peter Heehs’s extensive research in the archives and libraries in France, Israel and India and his vast knowledge of Mirra’s writings and talks, The Mother is a portrait of a foreign-born woman who made India her home and left an indelible imprint on it.
Spies, Lies and Allies: The Extraordinary Lives of Chatto and Roy, Kavitha Rao
Spies, Lies and Allies is a thrilling tale about two forgotten revolutionaries who led lives that defy belief. It takes the reader on a ride through Kolkata, Hyderabad, London, Paris, Berlin, Mexico City and Moscow. Chatto and Roy meet spies, dictators, femme fatales, assassins, revolutionaries and bomb makers. They encounter Lala Lajpat Rai, Veer Savarkar, Vladimir Lenin, Sun Yat Sen, Chiang Kai Shek, Joseph Stalin, Gandhi and Nehru. They travel in disguise and survive assassination attempts by the British secret service. They have tumultuous love affairs with suspected Communist spies. They flirted with anarchism, then became communists, and Roy would eventually end up founding his own philosophy: humanism.
Chatto’s famous sister Sarojini would distance herself from his path, and his friend Nehru would eventually follow the Gandhian path. Roy would be ignored in the newly independent India. But if Chatto and Roy were failures, they were magnificent ones. They battled for their ideas, and their ideas lived on, even if they died forgotten.
All information sourced from publishers.
