Social Books

The novel 'Asthinapuram contextualizes the social history of the coastal people in the background of, on-shore shipping trade. The range of the narration is broad and extensive - from Semmankuppam - a fishing hamlet to the leading port cities of Indi

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

KR Meera’s new novel, The Poison of Love, is a cautionary tale about the much abused and mythified emotion of love. The daughter of an IPS officer, the beautiful Tulsi has just graduated with a record score from IIT and is engaged to be married to a

In winter 2004, a writer met a young girl on a night train journey. To pass the time, she offered to tell a story. However, she had a condition: that he make it into his second book. He hesitated, but asked what the story was about. The girl said

Love is not consolation, it is light.’ From the author of Maps for Lost Lovers comes a searing, exquisitely written novel set in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the months following 9/11 – a story of war, of one family’s losses, and of the simplest, m

In an unnamed English town, Jugnu and his lover Chanda have disappeared. Rumours abound in the close-knit Pakistani community and then, on a snow-covered January morning, Chanda’s brothers are arrested for murder. Telling the story of the next twelve

Salman Rushdie, a self-described ‘emigrant from one place and a newcomer in two’, explores the true meaning of Home. Writing with insight, passion and humour, he looks at what it means to belong, whether roots are real and homelands imaginary, what i

Collection of poetry on women, dowry, rape,social problems, family. Beautiful and sensitive, yet so provocative that this work along with her other writings have generated a call in Bangladesh for her execution for blasphemy. A leader in feminist act

The book, ‘Unaccustomed Earth’ is a collection of short stories which reveal the patterns and layers of human emotions and the complicated links of relationships. The stories in this book focus on the lives and issues of the Indian American community

Set in the mannered, lush world of upper middle class Tamils in Sri Lanka, this deeply moving first novel, though not autobiographical, draws on Selvadurai’s experience of being gay in Sri Lanka and growing up during the escalating violence between t

At magic hour; when the sun has gone but the light has not, armies of flying foxes unhinge themselves from the Banyan trees in the old graveyard and drift across the city like smoke . . .' So begins The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Arundhati Roy's

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

The setting is Sri Lanka, 1980, and it is the season of monsoons. Fourteen-year-old Amrith is caught up in the life of the cheerful, well-to-do household in which he is being raised by his vibrant Auntie Bundle and kindly Uncle Lucky. He tries not to

Hinduism is one of the world's oldest and greatest religious traditions. In captivating prose, Shashi Tharoor untangles its origins, its key philosophical concepts and texts. He explores everyday Hindu beliefs and practices, from worship to pilgrimag

In Buddhist myth, the dead may be reborn as “hungry ghosts”- spirits with stomach so large they can never be full - if they have desired too much during their lives. It is the duty of the living relatives to free those doomed to this fate by doing ki

Sweeping across the twentieth century, from the countryside of Bengal, India, to the streets of Houston, Texas, Before We Visit the Goddess takes readers on an extraordinary journey through the lives of three unforgettable women: Sabitri, Bela, and T

At the age of eleven, Triton goes to work as a houseboy to Mister Salgado, a marine biologist obsessed with the island’s disappearing reef. It was the biggest house he had ever seen. People from all over the world came here-to sell their wares, to ta

“Leave a footprint to inspire others to leave their footprints” (Deesha Sangani). Who can stop you from dreaming? Do you need to ask anyone to dream to lead and live a life that you want to live? Dreams are the simplest, yet it gets complicated when

The Stories We Never Tell is a contemporary story that not only revolves around mental health issues, but also the pressures that young people put on themselves. There are stories we never talk about. Stories we are afraid to share. Simply becaus

Pulitzer-winning, scintillating studies in yearning and exile from a Bengali Bostonian woman of immense promise.A couple exchange unprecedented confessions during nightly blackouts in their Boston apartment as they struggle to cope with a heartbreaki