10) An Obedient Father by
Akhil Sharma
An
inspector for the physical education department in the Delhi school system, Ram
Karan supports his widowed daughter, Anita and eight-year-old granddaughter,
Asha, by collecting bribes for a Congress party boss. On the eve of Rajiv
Gandhiâs assassination, one reckless act bares the lifetime of violence and
sexual shame behind his dingy public career and traps him in a farcical, but
terrifying, political campaign. An astonishing character study, a portrait of a
family and a country tormented by the past, An Obedient Father recalls
Dostoevskyâs guilt-ridden anti-heroes. Corrosive, funny, and frightening, this
is a stunning delight.
9) The Immortals by Amit Chaudhuri
Shyamji has music in his blood, for his father was the acclaimed
'heavenly singer' and guru, Ram Lal. But Shyam Lal is not his father, and knows
he never will be. Mallika Sengupta's voice could have made her famous, but
being the wife of a successful businessman is a full-time occupation in itself.
Mallika's son, Nirmalya, believes in suffering for his art, and for him, all
compromise is failure: those with talent should be true to that talent. No
matter what.
Written in haunting, melodic prose, The Immortals tells
the story of Shyam, Mallika and Nirmalya: their relationships, their lives,
their music.
âAs seductive as a delicate, half-heard tuneâ Daily Mail
âA memorable work â capacious, multi-faceted and intimate, it is Indian
to the core but universal in its implicationsâ Independent
âA beautiful novel of
music and time, hopes and regretsâ Irish Times
8) Those Pricey Thakur Girls by Anuja Chauhan
The new
novel from the bestselling author of The Zoya Factor and Battle for Bittora In
a sprawling bungalow on New Delhi's posh Hailey Road, Justice Laxmi Narayan
Thakur and his wife Mamta spend their days watching anxiously over their five
beautiful (but troublesome) alphabetically named daughters. Anjini, married but
an incorrigible flirt; Binodini, very worried about her children's hissa in the
family property; Chandrakanta, who eloped with a foreigner on the eve of her
wedding; Eshwari, who is just a little too popular at Modern School, Barakhamba
Road; and the Judge's favourite (though fathers shouldn't have favourites): the
quietly fiery Debjani, champion of all the stray animals on Hailey Road, who
reads the English news on DD and clashes constantly with crusading journalist
Dylan Singh Shekhawat, he of shining professional credentials but tarnished
personal reputation, crushingly dismissive of her 'state-sponsored propaganda',
but always seeking her out with half-sarcastic, half-intrigued dark eyes.
Spot-on funny and toe-curlingly sexy, Those Pricey Thakur Girls is rom-com
specialist Anuja Chauhan writing at her sparkling best.
7) Almost Single : Is There Such A Thing As A
Perfect Relationship? by Advaita Kala
My name is
Aisha Bhatia, I am twenty-nine years old and single. I work as a Guest
Relations Manager at the Grand Orchid Hotel. I dine at luxury hotels and stay
in five-stars during my travels; I can name old and new world wines with great
elan, and can tell my cheeses apart. I tolerate my job, hate my boss, and bond
big-time with my friends, while routinely suffering from umbilical cord
whiplash. I don't really care for my vital stats at the moment, and I don't
have a cute/funny nickname either. Hence this introduction: it stinks, but it
sticks. In fact, sometimes I think there should be support groups like the AA
out there for people like me. Wickedly irreverent and laugh-aloud funny, Almost
Single is a delightful romp through the five-star world of champagne brunches,
gay soirees, and the dilemmas of hip, young girls on the lookout for love and
matrimony.
6) 37+ Grace Marks: â¦Because Life is Beyond
Numbers
What happens when you fall in love at first sight? That too in college,
which is supposed to be the best time of one's life. But is it the best place
to find love too?
Viraj falls head over heels in love with his classmate Nimisha, who
could make boys on campus go crazy. While his friends Punit and Sahil just want
to have fun - despite poor mark-sheets, grace marks to pass, and other everyday
adventures - Viraj wants more from his life and love.
Life has led Viraj to the edge of a cliff. He has a choice to make â to
forget everything and jump, or fight.
What brought him here? An unrequited love, encounters with law, or the
dilemma of grace marks? Where does Viraj's story eventually end?
Welcome to 37 + Grace
Marks, Viraj's journey to discover that there is more to life than marks.
5) The One from the Stars by Keshav Aneel
âThe cost
of not following your heart is spending the rest of your life wishing you had.â
Vishesh is a dreamer, who is driven by his
passion for writing and words. But like most Indian middle class families, his
parents are impatient to see him settled in a government job. Despite all
obstacles, making no complaints, he continues to follow the hard path, holding
up the promise he had made to himself, trying to fulfil his father's wishes and
failing over and over.
Almost everyone â his parents, friends and the
love of his life â leaves his side in the middle of his journey. To worsen
things, he is diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, the seriousness of
which nobody could decipher before it was too late.
Will a dreamer be sacrificed for social
standing? Will a heart be crushed to uphold a hollow image?
Left alone and misunderstood by everyone he knew,
this is Vishesh's intense story of repeatedly falling down and trying to get up
on his own, to prove that everyone who dares to follow their heart is not a
commoner; he is 'The One From the Stars'.
4) You are the Best Wife: A True Love Story by Ajay K Pandey
'You Are The Best Wife: A True Love Storyâ is a story about how people
find true love and comfort in dissimilarities; about how two people with
absolutely different ideologies meet and fall in love.
The story revolves around Bhavna and Ajay. Bhavna loves living life for
others while Ajay loves living for himself; Bhavna is more spontaneous, never
planning the next move and living life with the flow. On the other hand, living
life without planning a single move is almost blasphemous to Ajay. Yet, they fall
in love; they get married and love changes both of them for good.
However, destiny had some other plans for this couple in love; and,
midway through their happiness, Bhavna had to resign from life. But does this
halt mean the end of love?
Written in frank and
clear words with generous dosage of humour, 'You Are the Best Wifeâ is hailed
as a true love story amidst all adversities. It is an inspiring and bittersweet
tale of a youth that metamorphoses into a whole new being after being touched
by love.
3) The Girl of My Dreams by Durjoy Datta
We are in the car. Sheâs looking at me. I can see the love in her eyes
for me. Then a huge crash. Sheâs flung out of the window. Iâm thrown out too. A
pool of blood. Her eyes are still on me... but now itâs a death stare. I am
Daman and I wake up to this nightmare. Every. Single. Day.
Waking up from a long coma, Daman learns that he was in a massive car
crash with a girl who vanished soon after the accident, leaving him for dead.
Strangely, all he remembers is a hazy face, her hypnotic eyes, and her
nameâShreyasi. To come to terms with his memory lapse he starts piecing
together stories about himself and Shreyasi from his dreams, which he then
turns into a hugely popular blog.
When heâs offered a lucrative publishing deal to convert his blog pieces
into a novel, he signs up immediately. However, he gives in to editorial
pressure and agrees to corrupt the original edgy character of Shreyasi.
Big mistake.
From then on Daman is stalked and threatened by a terrifying beauty who
claims to be Shreyasi and who will stop at nothing to make him pay for being a
sell-out. Before Daman fights back, he needs to know: Is she really who she
claims to be? What does she want from him now? What if he doesnât do what she
wants him to?
The Girl of My Dreams
is definitely not your usual love story.
2) The Palace of
Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that is
half-history, half-myth, and wholly magical; narrated by Panchaali, the wife of
the five Pandava brothers, we are -- finally -- given a woman's take on the
timeless tale that is the Mahabharata Tracing Panchaali's life -- from fiery
birth and lonely childhood, where her beloved brother is her only true
companion; through her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna; to
marriage, motherhood and Panchaali's secret attraction to the mysterious man
who is her husbands' most dangerous enemy -- The Palace of Illusions is
a deeply human novel about a woman born into a man's world -- a world of
warriors, gods and the ever manipulating hands of fate. âA mythic tale brimming
with warriors, magic and treacheryâ Los Angeles Times âA
radiant entree into an ancient mythology . . . Charming and remarkableâ Houston
Chronicle âA womanâs look at crime and punishment, loyalty, promises,
love and vengeance . . . With The Palace of Illusions, Divakaruni
has proven that her storytelling talents put her right up there with the
bestâ Miami Herald
1) Cobalt Blue by Sachin
Kundalkar
A
paying guest seems like a win-win proposition to the Joshi family. He's ready
with the rent, he's willing to lend a hand when he can and he's happy to listen
to Mrs Joshi on the imminent collapse of our culture. But he's also a man of
mystery. He has no last name. He has no family, no friends, no history and no
plans for the future. The siblings Tanay and Anuja are smitten by him. He
overturns their lives and when he vanishes, he breaks their hearts. Elegantly
wrought and exquisitely spare, Cobalt Blue is a tale of rapturous love and
fierce heartbreak told with tenderness and unsparing clarity.