Books from India

In Gun Island, Amitav Ghosh follows Deen Datta, a Brooklyn-based Indian rare-book dealer whose fascination with an obscure Bengali legend leads him on an unexpected journey from Kolkata to the Sundarbans and Venice. As he investigates the story of a merchant who escaped the wrath of the snake goddess Manasa Devi, Deen encounters mysterious coincidences, ancient myths, and people whose lives have been transformed by migration and environmental upheaval. Along the way, he witnesses the devastating effects of climate change, including rising seas, extreme weather, and threats to vulnerable communities. Blending folklore, history, and contemporary fiction, Ghosh explores the connections between human migration, ecological crisis, and cultural memory, questioning whether ancient stories might offer new ways of understanding the environmental challenges of the modern world.

In Ghost-Eye, Amitav Ghosh weaves together reincarnation, family secrets, and environmental concerns across two generations. In 1969 Calcutta, three-year-old Varsha Gupta begins describing memories of a previous life, including a different mother and a home beside a river. Her unusual claims lead her family to Dr. Shoma Bose, a psychiatrist investigating cases of apparent reincarnation. Decades later, Varsha’s case file attracts the attention of environmental activists, drawing Shoma’s nephew Dinu into a search that brings buried memories and unexpected connections to light. Moving between India and contemporary Brooklyn, the novel blends magical realism, mystery, and ecological fiction to explore the relationship between human identity, memory, and the natural world. It raises questions about how lives are interconnected and how humanity’s relationship with the environment shapes both personal histories and collective futures.