New books on the shelves

A grimdark fantasy reimagining of the Mahabharata, a global study of sexual violence, and much more.

Unspoken 

Sharmistha Gooptu 

‎Simon & Schuster 

Rs.450 

Aisha’s father had been deeply in love with her mother and theirs was almost the perfect marriage. Yet, at 64, afflicted with dementia, Mrs G begins to speak about people with whom she seems to have led a double life. A tale of memory, morality and illness that travels from Kolkata to Benaras. 

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The Starved  

Mangalu Charan Biswal; translated by Nirjharini Tripathy 

Hachette 

Rs.399 

In the bucolic landscape of undivided Sambalpur, five Bajnias—professional rural folk performers—lead a life of poverty, social discrimination, addiction and illiteracy. As the interest in folk music declines and farmlands dry up, the lives of the marginalised become harder, more unbearable.  

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Sons of Darkness  

Gourav Mohanty 

Bloomsbury 

Rs.699 

Described as a “‘grimdark’ fantasy reimagining” of the Mahabharata, here the Mathuran Republic, led by Krishna and Satyabhama, has been laid low by violent confrontations with the Magadhan empire. Sinister queens, naive kings, pious assassins and predatory priests conspire as the republic falls apart. 

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Dreams of a Healthy India: Democratic Healthcare in Post-Covid Times

Edited by Ritu Priya and Syeda Hameed

Vintage

Rs.699

The ninth volume in the Rethinking India series, published in collaboration with the Samruddha Bharat Foundation, this book calls for a reassessment of the popular image of health care as medical care alone, and uncovers the complex systemic processes that influence people’s health in their everyday lives.

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Kasauli Art Centre, 1976–1991

Belinder Dhanoa

Sher-Gil Sundaram Arts Foundation-Tulika Books

Rs.3,000

Ivy Lodge, Vivan Sundaram’s family residence in Kasauli, served as a nerve centre for Indian art and culture for well over a decade from the mid 1970a onwards. Belinder Dhanoa contextualises the experiments in visual arts, and the inception of the Journal of Arts & Ideas and what it meant for the cultural scene in India through the particularity of what took place at Kasauli.

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Disgrace: Global Reflections on Sexual Violence

Joanna Bourke

Rs.599

Speaking Tiger

This unprecedented study of rape culture delves into the factors that enable violence—including institutions, ideologies, and practices—and at the same time gives voice to survivors and activists, drawing inspiration from their struggles.

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Wish List

The Glow

Jessie Gaynor 

Random House

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Dust Child 

Que Mai Phan Nguyen 

Algonquin Books

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The Four Corners of the Heart: An Unfinished Novel 

Françoise Sagan, translated by Sophie R. Lewis 

Amazon Crossing

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The Bookbinder of Jericho 

Pip Williams 

Chatto & Windus 

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Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

David Grann

Doubleday

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A Myriad of Tongues: How Languages Reveal Differences in How We Think

Caleb Everett

Harvard University Press

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The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar

Robin R. Means Coleman and Mark H. Harris

Saga Press

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The Cat’s Meow: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa 

Jonathan B. Losos

Viking