Novel Books

Between the sea and the plains of Bengal, on the easternmost coast of India, lies an immense archipelago of islands. Some are vast and some no larger than sandbars; some have lasted through recorded history while others have just washed into being. T

Coolie is the second great political novel, published in 1936. It narrates the adventures of Munoo, an orphan hill-boy who is hardly fourteen years of age living with his uncle Daya Ram and aunt Gujri, and content in the idyllic surroundings of his

Rajkumar is only another boy, helping on a market stall in the dusty square outside the royal palace, when the British force the Burmese King, Queen and all the Court into exile. He is rescued by a far-seeing Chinese merchant and with him builds up a

Dracula is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking a business tr

Kanthapura is a 1938 novel written by Indian author Raja Rao. It tells the story of Mahatma Gandhi's independence movement from 1919 to 1930, describing its impact on the caste-ridden south Indian village of Kanthapura. The story is narrated by Achak

As a young boy, Amitav Ghosh's narrator travels across time through the tales of those around him, traversing the unreliable planes of memory, unmindful of physical, political and chronological borders. But as he grows older, he is haunted by a seemi

The Serpent and the Rope is an autobiographical-style novel by Raja Rao, first published in 1960 and the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1964. The book explores themes of reality, existence, and self-realization. Throughout the novel, prota

A fascinating and seductive writer!' —The Times In this extraordinary novel, Amitav Ghosh navigates through time and genres to present a unique tale. Beginning at an unspecified time in the future and ranging back to the late nineteenth century, the

This is a story of religious persecution and the aftermath of displacement. During the Partition of India in 1947, Hindus and Sikhs were made to move to India, and Muslims were forced into Pakistan, regardless of family history. Some families were di

Mano Majra is a place, Khushwant Singh tells us at the beginning of this classic novel, where Sikhs and Muslims have lived together in peace for hundreds of years. Then one day, at the end of the summer, the 'ghost train' arrives, a silent, incredibl

Nirad C. Chaudhuri was a well-known Bengali intellectual, a writer, editor and literary journalist who had worked for the independence activist Sarat Chandra Bose in the thirties, but later became rather critical of the politics of post-independence

The Ramayana, one of the world's greatest epics, is also a tragic love story. In this brilliant retelling, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni places Sita at the centre of the novel: this is Sita's version. The Forest of Enchantments is also a very human stor

The Continent of Circe is a 1965 book of essays written by Indian author Nirad C. Chaudhuri that was winner of the Duff Cooper Prize for 1966. In this book, Chaudhuri discusses Indian society from a socio-psychological perspective, commenting on Hind

‘An epic story ... poignantly told’ Hindustan Times ‘Radiant ... A charming and remarkable book’ Houston Chronicle ‘As bright a gem as the Hope Diamond’Los Angeles Times ‘A daring novel’ Vogue IndiaBe taken back to a time that is half history, half m

At 25, Richard Bell is the Alpha King, ruier of all packs. He has just about given up on ever finding his mate when an old friend enters his life again. Laretta O'Neil, a human girl that had stunned Richard with her reaction to him in college, and dr

This story revolves around three male protagonists: Gian Talwar- who is very much influenced by the Gandhian ideology of non-violence; Debi Dayal and Shafi Usman are other two who often uses "Jai-Ram: Jai Rahim" slogan to equate their feeling toward

Anju is the daughter of an upper-caste Calcutta family of distinction. Sudha is the daughter of the black sheep of that same family. Sudha is startlingly beautiful; Anju is not. Despite these differences, since the day the two girls were born--the

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 'A dazzling tale... woven with poetry and storyteller magic.' AMY TAN an immigrant from India, runs a spice shop in Oakland, California. While she supplies the ingredients for curries and kormas, sh

Harry Winton, the British manager of a tea estate in Assam leads a blessed life—a job which gives him power over scores of men; a rambling bungalow perched on the edge of a cliff; and an unencumbered, solitary existence in the verdant reaches of the

In a dingy shack in the less-than-desirable Indian neighbourhoods he calls home, twelve-year-old Anand is entrusted witth a conch shell that possesses mystical powers. His task is to return the shell to its rightful home mary hundreds of miles away i