Two seemingly disparate stories open this engrossing debut novel. Latha, who enjoys the smaller luxuries of life – bathing with a stolen bar of pink Lux soap – is both servant and best friend to Thara, the only child of the Vithanages with whom the young...
I'm getting on the Shamsie-bandwagon a little late ...
With their father unable to find a job in Delhi, Asha, her older sister Reet, and their mother must go live with relatives in Calcutta while her father travels to New York in search of new opportunities. He hopefully promises that reunion is not far...
Anju Melvin, used to being first in the classrooms of her hometown of Kumarakom in India's southern state of Kerala, wins herself a scholarship for a year aboard at an elite private high school in Manhattan. But what clinches the award is not her own...
Geoff Dyer's latest novel, teasingly titled Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, is quite the mind game. To play, you obviously have to read the book. Here's the initial setup: two distinct parts with a few overlapping similarities. In the first, "Jeff in Venice," London journalist...
Even though it's only April (and the book doesn't even hit stands until next month), I'm announcing with absolute certainty that Burnt Shadows gets my unwavering vote as THE Book of the Year. I'll only be too happy to eat my words because that can only mean...
Frank and Ellie Benton have had the unthinkable happen to them: their precious 7-year-old son has died of a sudden illness. Even while Ellie is wracked with guilt, Frank blames her for what he believes was her negligence in not taking him to the hospital quickly...
Pinky Mittal, a 13-year-old schoolgirl in 1960s Bombay, lives with her extended family in a sprawling family bungalow in one of the city's more fashionable neighborhoods. Her grandmother, who rescued her after her mother's death as an toddler, dotes on her. Her aunt-by-marriage barely puts...
Much to her mother's chagrin, Aisha has almost reached the big 3-0 and (gasp!) and is still single – but she's smart, independent, and definitely fun-loving. Working as the guest relations manager of a swanky Delhi hotel, she knows all about fast-paced city life. One...
What can I say? This debut collection is a gift. In eight intertwined stories using spare, perfectly measured language, hapa Pakistani American Daniyal Mueenuddin captures the lives of the haves and have-nots – money, position, power – with both precision and grace. Each of the collection's characters...
The wealthy Rajesekharan family of Ipoh, Malaysia is suddenly in shambles. Chellam, one of the family servants, has been mysteriously dismissed and leaves in utter disgrace. The bitter, difficult family matriarch is dead. Her son is...
In Yalini's globe-scattered Sri Lankan family are two kinds of marriage: the Arranged Marriage that the obedient adhere to and Love Marriage which Yalini's newly immigrant parents fell into shortly after arrival in their adopted country....
Neel is a handsome young doctor arriving at the family home in India to visit his ill grandfather. Back in his chosen home of San Francisco, he's got a gorgeous white girlfriend and his anesthesiologist career...
As horrible as some of the images are in this 2008 Booker Prize-winning debut novel, you can't help but chuckle just a little bit at some of the impossible shenanigans of its self-made unapologetic...
A harrowing anthology, comprised of 16 essays by some of the best writers of the international Indian diaspora, vividly explores the ravages of a too-fast growing AIDS community across India. Nikita Lalwani writes about a kind,...
Thank goodness the Pulitzer-winning Jhumpa Lahiri went back to her short story roots: The Namesake was okay, but disappointing after The Interpreter of Maladies which was such a shockingly remarkable debut.
Holy moly, now comes this unforgettable...
Immortalized by Deborah Kerr, Anna Leonowens – yes, that Anna, the one who taught the children of the King of Siam – was, without a doubt, a remarkable character. Unfortunately, her story remains buried in...
Here’s the best news up front: Tahmima Anam’s impressive debut is the first of a planned trilogy. While still mourning the sudden loss of her too-young husband, Rehana loses custody of her young son...
India in the 1940s is a time of tumultuous violence – the British troops are subduing independence efforts, citizens of different religious backgrounds are fighting each other, World War II is raging in Europe, and the...
First published in 1983, Sidhwa’s haunting first novel has been brought back with a new introduction by grand dame Anita Desai. It's based on a true story Sidwha heard while traveling in Pakistan about a young...
