‘Suralakshmi Villa’: A world in which women stand up to patriarchy and abuse – and win

Aruna Chakravarti’s family saga situates women at the centre of decision-making and choices.

Namita Sethi

· Oct 25, 2020 · 11:30 am

This novel provides an imaginative, intimate account unrevealed by formal histories of ‘thuggees’

Siddhartha Sarma’s historical novel ‘Twilight in a Knotted World’ is also the untold story of WH Sleeman’s contribution to governance in India.

Antara Datta

· Oct 25, 2020 · 08:30 am

Moustache: This magical, playful novel features people made not of flesh and blood, but of stories

S Hareesh’s debut novel, translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil, is a flowing journey with many detours and no central narrative thread.

Shree Thaarshini Sriraman

· Oct 24, 2020 · 11:30 am

‘Piranesi’: Susanna Clarke’s long-awaited second novel is worth the long wait. And it includes magic

On the surface, Clarke's second novel has nothing to do with ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell’, but the novels share a secret heart.

Shreya Ila Anasuya

· Oct 18, 2020 · 05:30 pm

Data analytics and targeted political messages began over 40 years before Facebook, shows this book

Jill Lepore’s ‘If Then’ excavates the story of Simulmatics Corporation, the forerunner of today’s online companies mining personal information.

Nair DA

· Oct 18, 2020 · 12:30 pm

Comradeship in love distinguishes this novel of rebuilding refugee lives after the Bengal Partition

Bhaswati Ghosh’s debut novel ‘Victory Colony 1950’ also offers that rare thing: happiness for its characters.

Rituparna Roy

· Oct 17, 2020 · 05:30 pm

What are the ethics of thievery? VJ James’s ‘Chorashastra’ is a wicked study in irony and symbolism

A professor discovers an ancient art and trains a thief.

Varsha Ramachandran

· Oct 11, 2020 · 03:30 pm

JBS Haldane’s life, via Samanth Subramanian’s biography, shows why scientists must be political too

In ‘A Dominant Character’, the life of a scientist committed to a political vision, even misled by it, is chronicled with verve.

Dinyar Patel

· Oct 11, 2020 · 08:30 am

This book reminds us why Shaheen Bagh will continue to be a reminder not to repeat the Partition

The essays and reports in ‘Shaheen Bagh and the Idea of India’ convey hope rather than despair.

Anodya Mishra

· Oct 10, 2020 · 05:30 pm

Troublingly hypermasculine, JK Rowling aka Robert Galbraith’s latest book is clearly problematic

‘Troubled Blood’, the fifth novel in the Cormoran Strike series, further highlights the reasons there’s been a social media backlash against her pronouncements.

Saloni Sharma

· Oct 10, 2020 · 12:30 pm

Chetan Bhagat’s new novel works not as a thriller but as an examination of the contemporary family

‘One Arranged Murder’ is a whodunit only schematically. It is more of an appraisal of a metropolitan social ethos.

Nikhil Govind

· Oct 10, 2020 · 08:30 am

‘These, Our Bodies, Possessed By Light’: Women are in love, with their relationships with themselves

Despite the rotating unhappiness of the characters, Dharini Bhaskar’s novel is actually a happy one.

Suhasini Patni

· Oct 04, 2020 · 12:30 pm