Just arrived: Books on the shelves

Where the Cobbled Path Leads (Penguin Hamish Hamilton)

Avinuo Kire

Rs.499

Young Vime discovers a portal to the spirit world as she struggles to cope with her mother’s death. On the day of her mother’s death anniversary, not wanting to return home, she follows the cobbled path that leads from her house to the deep end of the forest. There she falls asleep under a magnificent tree, which is actually a portal to the spirit world. This unique novel, interweaving fantasy with Naga folklore, is also about coming to terms with grief and fighting the invisible forces that control our lives.

Then Came the River (Bloomsbury India)

Debapriya Datta

Rs.399

In the verdant tea plantations of Assam, Roop Sharma, the daughter of an impoverished tea planter, befriends her teacher, Miss Barua. They find happiness in each other until they are thrown apart by personal and political problems, including the insurgency that disrupts life in Assam.

Temple Lamp: Verses on Banaras (Penguin Classics)

Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan; translated by Bilal Maaz bin Bilal

Rs.399

Ghalib’s Persian masnavi “Chirag-e-Dair” or Temple Lamp is his ode to the ancient and vibrant city of Benaras, which, in his time, belonged as much to Hindus as to Muslims.. He called it “Kaaba-e-Hindostan” or the Mecca of India. While Ghalib’s love for Delhi is well-known through his verse, his fondness for Benaras is less celebrated. It is translated from Persian to English in its entirety for the first time here.

Constitutional Concerns: Writings on Law and Life (Tulika)

Kaleeswaram Raj

Price: Rs.595

These collected essays explore the process of “de-constitutionalization” that India has put up with and makes a case for cautious political optimism because a democracy, even with all its limits, is not to be surrendered to a plutocracy under the prevailing bigotry.

Bhagat Singh: A Life in Revolution (Penguin)

Satvinder Juss

Rs.999

This meticulously researched biography shines a bright light on the oft-ignored personal influences that made Bhagat Singh who he was, along with the issue of his contested identity in today’s politics. This is the definitive Bhagat Singh biography of our times.

Undermining the Idea of India (Seagull Books)

Gautam Patel

Rs.199

Justice Gautam Patel of the Bombay High Court argues that the devolution of power is necessary for the survival of any liberal democracy, while maintaining that “the right to choose one’s own government is the right to dissent”. A searing manifesto for our troubled times.

Researches in Medieval Archaeology (Primus)

Iqtidar Alam Khan

Rs.995

A book that focusses on pre-modern public buildings in India such as sarais, bridges, waterworks, and masonry structures that will appeal to archaeologists and students of economic history interested in understanding India’s transition to modernity.

Sherpa: Stories of Life and Death from the Forgotten Guardians of Everest (Hachette India)

Pradeep Bashyal & Ankit Babu Adhikari

Rs.699

A book that traces the culture and history of the Sherpas of Nepal, the unsung heroes of the Himalayas who risk their lives for their mountaineer clients.