Book Rack

The Rule Breakers

Preeti Shenoy

Westland, 2018, Rs 350, pp 321

Veda is raised to be an obedient woman. She is studious, smart and ambitious. By the time she is 20, her parents arrange her marriage and she moves to Pune, leaving behind her siblings and her best friend Suraj. As she struggles to cope with her married life, will she cross lines and break rules?

To Obama

Jeanne Marie Laskas

Bloomsbury, 2018, Rs 499, pp 397

Every day, President Obama received 10,000 letters from the constituents, and he read them every night. In this book, the author interviews the president, the letter writers themselves, and the White House staff who read these powerful letters.

Conman

Surender Mohan Pathak

Westland, 2018, Rs 350, pp 320

Kiara receives a WhatsApp invite from Aditya, who claims to be an investment banker in New York. He sweeps her off her feet and promises to return to India to marry her. Six months later, police show up at Kiara’s door, charging her with the murder of the man who conned her.

Daddykins

Kalpana Mohan

Bloomsbury, 2018, Rs 399, pp 192

This is journalist Kalpana Mohan’s memoir. It starts when her father takes ill and she returns to Chennai to care for him. This tender account captures the face of changing India, and how her father survives poverty and the defining moments in history.

Ritwik Ghatak Stories

Translated by Rani Ray

Flexibound, 2018, Rs 350, pp 223

Ritwik Ghatak’s stories reflect his protest against the wickedness, villainy and oppression he saw around him. The stories in this book mirror the ethos of the tumultuous decade of India in the 40s. They go beyond to reveal a vision of life that encompasses a compassion for human frailties.

Looking for the Nation

Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee

Speaking Tiger, 2018. Rs 350, pp 202

In a time where toxic nationalism is at its peak and the idea of a nation distorted, the author critically analyses thinkers like Nehru, Ambedkar and Gandhi, who laid the political and ethical grounds of India’s modern identity.

All Among the Barley

Melissa Harrison

Bloomsbury, 2018, Rs 290, pp 352

The autumn of 1933 is the most beautiful Edie Mather can remember. A young man from London arrives at the farm to document the fading rural traditions and beliefs, and Edie must soon face unsettling pressures of adulthood. There’s more to her than what meets the eye.

Here and Beyond

Rashmi

Bloomsbury, 2018, Rs 399, pp 191

This book articulates the answers to all your existential queries, helping you to learn and evolve as spiritual beings in each step. With easy and identifiable anecdotes from life — ranging from dealing with a neighbour who calls you names to witnessing a child with a disease. It’s all about life and principles.