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Book Reviews

Nation on Trial

Madhulika Liddle

Prayaag Akbar’s new novel is a portrait of online India

Mother India
Prayaag Akbar
Blue Ruin /
Blue Ruin
Hari Kunzru
Art of Love

Hari Kunzru’s new novel completes his trilogy on creative pursuits. The author speaks to

Mangifera Indica: A Biography of the Mango  /
Mangifera Indica: A Biography of the Mango
Sopan Joshi
Fruit of the Nation

Sopan Joshi’s encyclopaedic biography of the mango reveals why it is intrinsic to India. The author in conversation with

FN Souza: The Archetypal Artist /
FN Souza: The Archetypal Artist
Janeita Singh
Souza’s Gaze

The life and legacy of the artist with a female fetish

The Lion and the Lily: The Rise and Fall of Awadh /
The Lion and the Lily: The Rise and Fall of Awadh
Ira Mukhoty
The French Connection

Ira Mukhoty uses alternative histories in her portrait of Awadh. She tells how the old Western point of view has become dated

Darako /
Darako
Parashar Kulkarni
Spittle Parable

A satire set around a paan shop in colonial India

Nehru’s First Recruits: The Diplomats who Built Independent India’s Foreign Policy /
Nehru’s First Recruits: The Diplomats who Built Independent India’s Foreign Policy
Kallol Bhattacherjee
India International

The country’s diplomatic history through its early recruits

The Hanuman Chalisa /
The Hanuman Chalisa
Translated by Vikram Seth
Poetic Licence

What is lost in Vikram Seth’s wonderful translation of Hanuman Chalisa is bhakti

Rosarita  /
Rosarita
Anita Desai
‘Writing is a bad habit of mine. I have never stopped,’ says Anita Desai

Anita Desai returns after more than a decade with the story of a young woman in Mexico. She speaks about why writers are outsiders

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