Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 19 (IANS) A war story set in the summer of 1545, a tale of love in the times of tsunami, a compilation of three essays by Arundhati Roy and a book on one of India’s finest filmmakers Satyajit Ray, the bookshelf this week displays an eclectic mix of writings.

1. “Heartstone”; Written by C.J. Sansom; Published by Pan Macmillan; Priced at Rs 299.

It is the summer of 1545. England is at war. Henry the VIII’s invasion of France has gone terribly wrong. And a massive French fleet is preparing to sail across the channel. Matthew Shardlake is given an intriguing legal case by an old servant of Queen Catherine Parr. Asked to investigate claims of monstrous wrongs committed against his young ward Hugh Curteys by Nicholas Hobbey. Shardlake and his assistant Barak journey to Portsmouth. The town is preparing for war.

And soon parallel events converge on board the king’s great warship at the Portsmouth Harbour…

2. “Broken Republic: Three Essays”; Written by Arundhati Roy; Published by Penguin-India; Priced at Rs.499

The book is an anthology of three essays — “Mr Chidambaram’s War”, “Walking With The Comrades” and “Trickledown Revolution”.

The first essay is a look into the terrain bordered by the low flat-topped hills of south Orissa, home to the Dongria Kondh long before there was a country called India or a state called Orissa. It traces the ethnic history of the land; once pristine but now a hub of Naxalite insurgency because of imbalance in development and abject state apathy.

The second essay, “Walking With The Comrades”, is about the writer’s “appointment with the insurgents in their camp”.

“Trickledown Revolution” is a reportage on the war in Andhra Pradesh. War has spread from the borders of India to the forests in the very heart of the country. Combining brilliant analysis and reportage by one of India’s iconic writers, the book examines the nature of progress and development in the emerging global superpower, and asks fundamental questions about modern civilization itself.

3. “The Last Song of Savio De Souza”; Written by Binoo K. John; Published by Harper-Collins India, Priced at Rs.399

The writer makes a stunning debut with a novel set in his land of birth — Kerala. In a sensuous about-to-be drowned tip of Kerala, the writer meets Savio, a musician, whose voice weaves magic in the lives of those around him.

It is the story of Savio and of love and loss in which the church, the mosque and the temple vie for believers. Young loves triumphs in tragedy and friends must earn their rites of passage. Set against the backdrop of the 2004 tsunami, this is a gripping novel about ordinary people who survive the odds.

4. “In Someone Else’s Garden”; Written by Dipika Rai; Published by Harper Collins-India; Priced at Rs.350

The writer’s soulful debut novel is a moving multi-generational tale of mothers and daughters in rural India struggling to break free of the social traditions fencing them in.

Standing out among works by Shobhan Bantwal, Chitra Divakaruni, and other emerging Indian writers, “Someone Else’s Garden” offers a rare look at life in the Indian countryside, far from the more well-trafficked literary settings of New Delhi and Mumbai, in an evocative, atmospheric story of one woman’s soulful fight to take control of her life.

5. “Manickda”; Written by Nemai Ghosh; Published by Harper Collins India; Priced at Rs.199

Satyajit Ray, known to intimates as Manick da, remains India’s most respected name in the international film circles. The book reveals in its simplicity the ease and camaraderie between Satyajit Ray, one of India’s finest filmmakers, and Nemai Ghosh, photographer extraordinaire. It is an endeavour by the photographer, Ray’s pictorial biographer of sorts, to bring out the man behind the mask.