Fiction of India
New 03/09
Tamarind Woman by Anita Rau Badani
An ambitious sweep of storytelling spanning two generations of an East Indian family: the embittered, sharp-witted mother and her two daughters living in North America. Kamini now lives in Calgary, but she is haunted by her family's past, the sights and sounds of the Indian cities, the domestic routines and politics of family. Above all, the novel explores this young woman's attempts to understand the mysterious and acrimonious relationship between her parents.
What the Body Remembers by Shauna Singh Baldwin
In a novel set in 1937 India, the second, younger wife of a Sikh landowner enters her marriage thinking the first wife—who was never able to bear children—will treat her kindly, but their relationship quickly grows complicated.
For Matrimonial Purposes by Kavita Daswani
Unable to find a husband despite the efforts of friends, fortune-tellers, and matchmakers, 33-year-old Anju, confronted by her family's shame, obtains their permission to leave Bombay to look for a husband in the United States.
Diamond Dust: Stories by Anita Desai
A collection of stories spans two continents and explores the line between traditional ties and personal freedom.
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai
Sampath Chawla, a young postal worker who never feels as though he fits into the small Indian town into which he is born, one day climbs up a tree, only to become a famous holy man.
Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Two girls, one the daughter of an upper-caste Calcutta family, the other the daughter of the black sheep of that same family, form a sisterly bond that shatters when one of the girls discovers a dark family secret.
Bombay Ice by Leslie Forbes
A disturbing letter from her sister, married to a famed Bombay film director, draws London journalist Rosalind Bengal back to her native India, where a series of strange and chaotic events threatens her life and draws her back into the dark patterns of her lost past.
The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh
In the late 19th century, Ronald Ross lives in Calcutta and discovers that the mosquito carries malaria; the contemporary New Yorker Murugan becomes obsessed with this story and goes to Calcutta for more information; and a professor in the future studies Murugan.
A Sin of Color by Sunetra Gupta
Sin of Color tells the story of three generations, and of a house in Calcutta called Mandalay. Fleeing the house, his family and his ill-fated love for a married woman, Debendranath leaves for England. But he cannot escape his passion-and years later, neither can his niece, Niharika, a beautiful and talented writer.
The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru
At the age of 15, Pran Nath Razdan is thrown out onto the streets when the truth of his parentage is revealed, forcing him to reinvent himself over and over to survive as he journeys from Victorian India to Edwardian London.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper's son Pi Patel sets sail for America, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain.
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
A portrait of India featuring four characters. Two are tailors who are forcibly sterilized, one is a student who emigrates, and the fourth is a widowed seamstress who decides to hang on. A tale of cruelty, political thuggery and despair.
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
In 1969 in Kerala, India, Rahel and her twin brother, Estha, struggle to forge a childhood for themselves amid the destruction of their family life, as they discover that the entire world can be transformed in a single moment.
The Moor’s Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie
Moraes Zogoiby offers a revealing account of his family, their evolving fortunes, and the lost world of possibilities in 20th-century India, recounting a universe of family rifts, greed, dark passion, secrecy, power, and the mysteries of art.
The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri
As Vishnu lies dying on the staircase he inhabits, his neighbors argue over who will pay for an ambulance. Each neighbor has his or her own drama: Mr. Jalal is searching for higher meaning; Vinod Taneja longs for the wife he lost; and Kavita Asrani is planning to elope. This story becomes a metaphor for the social and religious divisions of contemporary India, and Vishnu's ascent of the staircase parallels the soul's progress through the various stages of existence.