Books from India

In 1916, as the First World War reshapes the world, Madhusudan Chandra Joshi, a young Indian clerk from the Himalayan town of Almora, travels to Heidelberg to study law and secure a better future. His plans take an unexpected turn when he meets Amir Farooqui, a mysterious revolutionary who draws him into the Hindu–German Conspiracy, an international effort by Indian nationalists in exile to overthrow British colonial rule. As the war makes Germany increasingly dangerous for Indian students and activists, the two men embark on separate journeys: Madhusudan heads to London to continue his education, while Amir travels to San Francisco to reconnect with fellow revolutionaries. In London, Madhusudan encounters the racism and inequalities underpinning the British Empire, forcing him to question his ambitions and his understanding of identity. Moving between India, Europe, and America, Devki Pande’s historical novel explores the complicated relationship between colonialism, education, belonging, and resistance. Inspired by the author’s own family history, it is a story of political awakening, personal transformation, and the search for freedom in an unequal world.

The Daughters of Madurai explores the lives of two generations of women connected by family secrets, gender discrimination, and the painful consequences of patriarchal traditions. In Madurai, India, in 1992, Janani lives in poverty and faces enormous pressure to give birth to a son. In her community, daughters are considered a burden, and Janani is forced to endure the unimaginable loss of children she was never allowed to protect. Decades later, in Sydney in 2019, her daughter Nila struggles with a secret of her own. When a family emergency brings Nila back to India, she begins a journey that reveals hidden truths about her family’s past. Moving between India and Australia, Variyar examines the devastating consequences of gender inequality and the ways family secrets can shape successive generations. The novel explores motherhood, belonging, and the courage required to confront painful histories in the search for truth and reconciliation.

The Storyteller’s Secret follows Jaya, an Indian American journalist whose personal life begins to unravel after she experiences a painful miscarriage and the breakdown of her marriage. Seeking answers and a fresh perspective, she travels to India to reconnect with her family’s roots. There, she meets Ravi, her grandmother’s former servant, who shares the story of Amisha, Jaya’s grandmother, and the difficult choices that shaped her life in a small Indian village during the 1930s. Amisha was a gifted storyteller whose aspirations extended beyond the traditional roles available to women, but her ambitions were constrained by social expectations and a marriage that offered little freedom. As Jaya uncovers her grandmother’s past, she begins to understand her own struggles differently. Badani explores family secrets, women’s independence, cultural traditions, and the healing power of understanding previous generations.

The Lowland tells the story of two brothers, Subhash and Udayan, who grow up together in Calcutta but choose dramatically different paths as adults. During the 1960s, Udayan becomes involved in the Naxalite movement, a radical communist uprising that challenges India’s political and social order. Subhash, by contrast, leaves for the United States to pursue an academic career. When political violence destroys Udayan’s future, Subhash returns to India and makes a decision that binds him to his brother’s family for decades. The consequences of this choice unfold across generations, affecting relationships, marriages, and the identity of Udayan’s daughter, Bela. Lahiri explores guilt, loyalty, political conviction, and the lasting consequences of family secrets, showing how a single act can shape the lives of people who were never responsible for it.

Set in Kerala, southern India, The God of Small Things tells the story of fraternal twins Estha and Rahel, whose childhood is shattered by a series of tragic events that permanently alter their family. Through a nonlinear narrative that moves between their childhood in 1969 and their reunion as adults, the novel explores the consequences of forbidden love, social prejudice, and deeply rooted cultural expectations. When their cousin Sophie Mol visits from England, an unexpected tragedy exposes the family’s hidden tensions and the cruelty of the social hierarchies governing their lives. At the centre of the story is Ammu, the twins’ mother, whose relationship with Velutha, a man from an oppressed caste, challenges the rigid boundaries of Indian society. Roy’s lyrical prose captures the beauty of childhood perception alongside the devastating effects of discrimination, silence, and loss. The novel examines how seemingly small moments can shape entire lives, revealing the profound consequences of breaking society’s unwritten rules.