Atta Galatta Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize Fiction 2025 Shortlist
Godrej Literature Live! Fiction Best First Book 2025 Shortlist
Are doors to the past ever really shut? Are some crimes more understandable than others?
Disgraced after failing the university exams, Thankachan has returned to his old life. On Fathima Island in the Ashtamudi archipelago, his days are clouded over by the fear of never making anything of himself, but soon, strange events begin to happen on the island. A dead body surfaces one day, then another. Soon, a murder case considered solved years ago is suddenly once again wide open. Is his evasive brother involved in something sinister? Is the fate of a fisherman’s son really sealed at birth?
Packed with intrigue, compelling characters draw the reader into their lives and the heart of the dark secrets that have long lay dormant. Once revealed, they threaten to shake the foundations of community life and wreck Thankachan’s hopes for the future.
A small island community, a murder mystery and whispers of a new romance—The Dead Know Nothing is ripe with the energy of everyday life and deeply perceptive of its social tensions. A riveting story of deceit, perseverance and the wild realms of possibility, it will engross readers with its simple charm and beguiling turns.
Gandhi was 20th century’s most acclaimed political thinker-practioner of nonviolence. His method of nonviolence, however, was under trial during the ferocity of Partition. Why was it so? Gandhi: The End of Nonviolence explores this crisis in depth.
Putting Gandhi center stage in significant political events ranging from the Khilafat Movement (1919-1922) to Partition (1946-1947), Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee critically engages with some of the key figures who had a stake on the Hindu-Muslim question: Maulana Mohamad Ali, Muhammad Iqbal, the Arya Samajists, B.R. Ambedkar, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
The tragic repercussions of Jinnah’s declaration of ‘Direct Action Day’ on 16th August 1946 leads Manash to ask probing questions on the persistent malady in our political history: How does communal politics descend into genocide? What is the psychology of communal violence? Attentively reading the exceptional witness accounts of Pyarelal, Nirmal Kumar Bose and Manu Gandhi, Manash throws light on the many shades of Gandhi’s epic peace mission as he walks (often barefoot) through the devastated neighbourhoods of Noakhali, Bihar, Calcutta and Delhi, offering courage and healing wounds.
Combining poetic flair, diligent research and argumentative rigour, this one-of-a-kind book reminds us why Gandhi is part of our ethical conscience and transforms our understanding of the human condition.
“The silence depressed me. It wasn’t the silence of silence. It was my own silence.”
Esther Greenwood is a beautiful and immensely talented young lady who dreamt of being a great writer. As a college student she travelled from Massachusetts to New York to work on a magazine for a month as a guest editor. While there, she is showered with fancy dinners, and elite networking. Esther knew she should be having the time of her life, but something was wrong, and she felt deadened.
Little she knew that this was the beginning of a clinical depression which would take all sense of life out of her. After a visit from a beloved professor, she starts to believe that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Months of treatment later, Esther leaves the mental hospital in time to start college. She now knew that life would be a seesaw of good and bad days, and the bell jar could ring either with sadness or elation, she just needed to hear it jingle and practice what she learnt.
The Bell Jar is an intimate, and uplifting narrative written with the expert stroke of the finest writers of the century; meant to make the reader feel supported and hopeful in their journey.
“I’ve found that there is always some beauty left?in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you.”
Anne begins her diary entries at the age of thirteen in June 1942, recording all her experiences until August 1944. All people have the right to freedom, but Anne wasn’t sure that idea included her. During WWII, Anne and her family were forced to go into hiding like many other Jews.
Vivid snippets of two years of living in an annexe, without seeing the sun, are journalled by Anne. From their bones dwindling to her emotional growth all is reflected in her writings. She writes of her passion for literature and art, her desire to travel, the struggles of family ties in hiding: showing her incredible emotional resilience.
How does she keep her spirits alive through imagination, hold onto the hopes of free life, when they weren’t allowed to bring attention to themselves?
“Nothing in the world is harder than speaking the truth and nothing easier than flattery.”
What happens when paramount self-belief leads to self-destruction. Raskolnikov’s is a student who believes he has the responsibility of using evil means to bring good to people; thereby committing murders.
As Raskolnikov is chased by a relentless investigator, his conscience starts to haunt him, tightening the grip of guilt. Amidst this turmoil, only Sonya, a marginalized sex worker, holds the key to his salvation.
Ultimately, Raskolnikov’s path leads him to a profound reckoning. Through suffering and self-realization, Raskolnikov discovers the true nature of happiness and the power of accepting and reciprocating love.
Crime and Punishment stands as a testament to Dostoevsky’s unparalleled ability to explore the depths of the human psyche, the complexities of truth, guilt, and the search for redemption.
Dandi, 1930
All the world’s eyes are on this tiny village by the Arabian Sea, where Mahatma Gandhi will soon break the Salt Law to defy British rule.
Dinu would rather be home in Surat, reading his beloved Sherlock Holmes books. Instead, he finds himself wading through mud, battling angry goats and eating burnt food as the youngest of the student volunteers helping prepare Dandi for Bapu’s arrival.
When a man is found dead and rumours of an angry demon grip the village, Dinu finds himself drawn into the mystery, even as he grapples with dilemmas of his own. But as Dinu and his friends race against time to find the killer, the demon strikes again . . .
The Songs of Freedom series explores the lives of children across India during the struggle for independence.
The job of any river is to flow and as it flows, it nurtures everything around it, everything within it. But when human interference affects this natural flow, it brings floods and droughts, displacement and suffering in its wake.
From melting glaciers to urban flooding, sand mining to dammed rivers, river rights to river interlinking projects, dead rivers to river revival, this book is an attempt to understand India’s rivers through their stories and the narratives of those whose lives are interlaced with the life of rivers.
Deeply steeped in the historical, spiritual, cultural, political, ecological, and economic fabric of our society, these stories are highly relevant in today’s world where the climate crisis is a water crisis. Compelling readers to listen to the river’s gentle yet urgent voice, it’s a must read for all non-fiction lovers and students keen on understanding life in the subcontinent we call home.
A 2019 NEWBERY HONOR BOOK
*A Walter Dean Myers Honor Winner
*An ALA Notable Book
*A Malka Penn Award Recipient
*A New York Times Editor’s Choice Pick
*A Junior Library Guild Selection
*Named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon, Kirkus Reviews, The New York Times, NPR, School Library Journal, and The Washington Post.
“A gripping, nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults.”
–Kirkus, starred review
In the vein of Inside Out and Back Again and The War That Saved My Life comes a poignant, personal, and hopeful tale of India’s partition, and of one girl’s journey to find a new home in a divided country
It’s 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders.
Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn’t know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it’s too dangerous to stay in what is now Pakistan, Nisha and her family become refugees and embark first by train but later on foot to reach her new home. The journey is long, difficult, and dangerous, and after losing her mother as a baby, Nisha can’t imagine losing her homeland, too. But even if her country has been ripped apart, Nisha still believes in the possibility of putting herself back together.
Told through Nisha’s letters to her mother, The Night Diary is a heartfelt story of one girl’s search for home, for her own identity…and for a hopeful future.
“In this Caldecott Medal winner, Mosquito tells a story that causes a jungle disaster. “Elegance has become the Dillons’ hallmark. . . . Matching the art is Aardema’s uniquely onomatopoeic text . . . An impressive showpiece.” – Booklist, starred review.
Winner of Caldecott Medal in 1976 and the Brooklyn Art Books for Children Award in 1977.
“Mom, where do babies come from?”
Many parents live in fear of the day their child asks that question―which inevitably happens, often as early as the preschool years.
Here is a picture book designed especially for young children who are becoming sexually aware but aren’t ready to learn about sexual intercourse.
Written with warmth and honesty, Amazing You! presents clear and age-appropriate information about reproduction, birth, and the difference between girls’ and boys’ bodies. Lynne Cravath’s whimsical illustrations enliven the text, making this a book that parents will gladly share with their young ones.
