BOOKS WE RECOMMEND THIS WEEK

From a contemporary fiction which has won the PFC-VoW Book Award for Gender Sensitivity 2020, to a non-fiction which quashes stereotypes about India, our book picks this week, curated by Chirdeep Malhotra

FICTION

“The Radiance of a Thousand Suns” by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

This book has won the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity and the PFC-VoW Book Award for Gender Sensitivity 2020. The book follows Niki who is determined to complete her dead father's unfinished book. This takes her from India to New York City where her pursuit of a mysterious immigrant woman turns into an obsession, and she finds herself on a path where the present and past collide violently.
Propulsive and poetic, this elegant literary thriller melds the fervour of Punjab with the frenzy of New York, and spans the cataclysms of Partition, of 9/11, the brutality of Emergency, and the pogrom of 1984. The novel explores the impossible choices women are forced to make in the face of violence, the ties that connect them across ages, and the secrets they store.



NON-FICTION

“Discovering India” by Karolina Goswami

Karolina Goswami runs the YouTube channel “India In Details”. She is from Poland and married to an Indian. In this book, she tells her story of embarking on a tour of India and falling in love with the country. She finds that India is quite different from the way it is commonly perceived outside its borders. With the help of verifiable data, researches and logic, this book provides a handy, quick-glance reference source of information on India, for an insider as well as an outsider.
From India’s economy to its environment, from its weaknesses to its strengths, from its spirituality to its unutilised soft power, as well as its culture, tourism and its upcoming challenges, this book carefully attempts to diagnose India’s problems and seek their solutions.



MYSTERY THRILLER

“The Endgame” by S. Hussain Zaidi

This mystery-thriller by S. Hussain Zaidi has an irresistible cast of characters in a story brimming with politics, betrayal and unimaginable terror. Three years after Shahwaz Ali Mirza and Vikrant Singh foiled dreaded terrorist Munafiq's attempt to leak State secrets from a naval server in Lakshadweep, they are now posted with RAW. They have the task of providing security for BSF Special Director General Somesh Kumar; however, his convoy is attacked by terrorists. They get tip-offs and security information that there is more to this terrorist attack than meets the eye. In this book, the entire team from the Lakshadweep operation finds itself getting together for a new mission.



POETRY

“My Mother's Scribe: Poems and Tales” by Rafiq Kathwari

Rafiq Kathwari is the first non-Irish recipient of the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award. In the book “My Mother’s Scribe”, he tells the story of his mother, Maryam, who started losing her mind during the Partition of India in 1947, which tore apart millions of families like his. His mother’s condition worsened when, after 40 years of marriage, his father remarried, and both his mother and the new wife lived under the same roof. Many poems are set in Kashmir and are from the view of her young son, who serves as his mother’s scribe. Together, both mother and son, limn an intriguing poetic journey.