Some months arrive with a book or two worth talking about. April arrived with fourteen. This month’s new releases span centuries and continents, moving between Maratha battlefields and Mumbai’s marathon roads, between Everest base camps and the boardrooms of Hindustan Unilever — and somehow, every single one of them has something urgent to say.
Gangrene – Akshaya Kumar, Navdeep Singh
Akshaya Kumar & Navdeep Singh Rot beneath the surface makes for the most arresting literature. This anthology excavates Punjabi Dalit life with unflinching honesty — stories where caste wounds fester quietly and explode loudly. Searing, essential, and long overdue, Gangrene is the anthology that refuses to let comfortable readers stay comfortable.
A CEO’s Brew Stirred with Passion, Purpose and Humbition – Sanjiv Mehta
Sanjiv Mehta Twenty-one years, five continents, sixty billion dollars — and Sanjiv Mehta still believes humility is a superpower. Part memoir, part masterclass, this is the story of how a man with ‘Humbition’ turned Hindustan Unilever into a global gold standard. Served strong, no sugar-coating required.
The Star from Calcutta – Sujata Massey
Bombay, 1922: a movie censor is murdered, a leading lady vanishes, and India’s first female lawyer Perveen Mistry has front-row seats to early Bollywood’s darkest drama. Glamour, intrigue, and a courtroom mind — Massey’s fifth Perveen Mistry mystery is a blockbuster in every sense.
A Fire over Mount Everest – Siddharth Kak
Siddharth Kak Everest doesn’t care about your ambitions. It chooses who climbs it. Documentary filmmaker Siddharth Kak embedded with an expedition and returned with a story no camera could fully capture — of triumph, obsession, rivalry, and a mountain that humbles even the best-prepared humans.
India’s Forests: Revisiting Nature and History -Arupjyoti Saikia, Mahesh Rangarajan
Trees have long memories. This richly researched volume recasts India’s forests not merely as ecology but as history — arenas of colonial ambition, peasant resistance, and ecological reckoning. A book for anyone who thought the jungle was just scenery.
Glimpses of a Golden Childhood – Osho
Before he became the most controversial mystic of the 20th century, Osho was a magnificently rebellious small boy in Madhya Pradesh. This memoir of his early years is funny, irreverent, and surprisingly tender — the origin story of a man who never once obeyed an instruction he hadn’t interrogated first.
Mumbai Marathon – Aarambh M. Singh
42.195 kilometres. One impossibly chaotic city. Millions of stories pounding the pavement. Filmmaker-turned-author Aarambhh M Singh captures the Mumbai Marathon as only a storyteller can — not just as a race, but as a mirror of the city’s relentless, breathless, magnificent spirit.
Building India’s Upstarts – Narasimhan Raghavan
No VC money. No safety net. Just grit, jugaad, and a refusal to quit. Drawing on India’s most resourceful founders, this playbook is for entrepreneurs who’d rather build something real than pitch decks endlessly. Practical, honest, and proudly bootstrapped in spirit.
From Mundane to Meaningful – Nasir Zaidi
Twenty-eight years in banking taught Nasir Zaidi that the extraordinary is hiding inside the ordinary — you just need the right lens. Part self-help, part memoir, this book coaches professionals to stop sleepwalking through their careers and start crafting lives worth actually living.
Queen Tara – Medha Deshmukh Bhaskaran
Medha Deshmukh Bhaskaran From the ashes of defeat, a warrior is forged. Medha Deshmukh Bhaskaran brings us another blazing chapter of Maratha history through a woman who chose to fight when surrender would have been easier. Vivid, immersive, and resolutely feminist — Queen Tara earns its throne.
Almost Sixteen – Arsh Verma
A serving IPS officer writes about the treacherous terrain of being almost — but not quite — sixteen. Part coming-of-age, part dark comedy, Arsh Verma turns the universal awkwardness of adolescence into something unexpectedly luminous. A page-turner that remembers exactly how strange youth feels.
From Guerrilla Fighter to Chief Minister: A Memoir – Zoramthanga
From armed insurgency to the Chief Minister’s chair — Zoramthanga’s life is one of India’s most remarkable political transformations. This memoir charts Mizoram’s journey from conflict to peace with rare candour, and reminds us that conviction, not compromise, is what endures.
Hawk’s Quest – Deepa Agarwal
NCERT award-winning author Deepa Agarwal takes young readers on an adventure as swift and sharp-eyed as a hawk in flight. A quest story that soars across landscape and legend, reminding readers of all ages that courage is simply curiosity that refused to turn back.
Upanishads and J Krishnamurti – Sri M
What happens when ancient Vedic wisdom meets the most rebellious philosopher of the 20th century? Sri M — yogi, Padma Bhushan laureate, and personal acquaintance of Krishnamurti — finds surprising harmony between tradition and transcendence. Quietly radical, deeply thought-provoking.
At Penguin India, we believe reading is never just an escape. It’s a way of paying attention. And this April, we’ve given you fourteen new ways to do exactly that.
Happy Reading!
