BOOKLISTS: Imaginary India
Alexander, Meena
. NAMPALLY ROAD.
1991
This spare, vivid tale of politics and resistance in contemporary India carries readers swiftly along to its compelling end. Using poetic imagery to render daily life, the author has
created an illuminating novel. FICTION/ALEXANDER,MEE
Ali, Ahmed.
TWILIGHT IN DELHI.
1994
Enacted in the 19th nineteenth century between two revolutionary moments of change, Twilight in Delhi makes history come alive by depicting most movingly the decay of an entire culture and
way of life. FICTION/ALI,AHM
Appachana, Anjana.
LISTENING NOW.
1998
This tells the story of seven women in contemporary India, each of them burdened with secrets and a heritage of guilt that they convey to their daughters. It reveals the casual
deceptions of family life and the power of love. FICTION/APPACHANA,ANJ
Balasubramanyam, Rajeev.
IN BEAUTIFUL DISGUISES.
2001
To escape an arranged marriage, the 16-year-old daughter of a middle-class South Indian family runs away to Delhi and takes a job as a maid in a household where the other
servants are as strange as her employers. FICTION/BALASUBRAMANYAM,RAJ
Baldwin, Shauna Singh.
WHAT THE BODY REMEMBERS.
1999
In a novel set in 1937 India, the second younger wife of a Sikh landowner enters her marriage thinking the first wife--who was never able to bear children-will treat her
kindly, but their relationship quickly grows complicated. FICTION/BALDWIN,SHA
Bhattacharya, Keron.
THE PEARLS OF COROMANDEL.
1996
Hoping to begin a career in the British government, John Sugden joins the Indian Civil Service during the final days of the Raj. He risks his career-and his life-when he falls in love with Kamala,
whose father will kill her rather than allow her to marry into the Raj. FICTION/BHATTTACHARYA,KER
Chaudhuri, Amit.
FREEDOM SONG: Three Novels. 1999
Three critically acclaimed short novels-Freedom Song, Afternoon Raag and A Strange and Sublime Address-offer an intimate portrait of India and its middle-class inhabitants. FICTION/CHAUDHURI,AMI
Cornwell, Bernard.
SHARPE'S TIGER.
1999
The year is 1799, and this riveting story is centered on the Siege of Seringapatam in Mysore, India. Young private Sharpe must battle both man and beast behind enemy lines as the British army
fights its way through India toward a diabolical trap. FICTION/CORNWELL,BER
Desai, Anita.
JOURNEY TO ITHACA.
1995
Joining in the 1970s flight of young people to India, Matteo, who is enchanted by Herman Hesse's Journey to the East, and Sophie, who is obsessed with Matteo, seek spiritual enlightenment. They
meet a holy woman known as the Mother. FICTION/DESAI,ANI
Desai, Kiran.
HULLABALOO IN THE GUAVA ORCHARD.
1998
This debut novel tells the story of young Sampath Chawla, a postal worker who never feels as though he fits into the small Indian town into which he is born. Until one day,
when he climbs a tree, o nly to become a famous holy man. FICTION/DESAI,KIR
Deshpande, Shashi.
A MATTER OF TIME.
1999
Set in present-day Karnataka, A Matter of Time explores the intricate relationships within an extended family, encompassing three generations. The story is told in the individual voices of the
characters and portrays the difficulties and choices facing women-especially educated, independent women-in India today. FICTION/DESHPANDE,SHA
Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee.
ARRANGED MARRIAGE: Stories. 1995
Eleven short stories about Indian women begin with a childhood adventure in India and continue to a poignant portrait of a middle-aged, divorced woman determined to
succeed in San Francisco. Each woman must balance old treasured beliefs with new desires and freedoms. FICTION/DIVAKARUNI,CHI
Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee.
SISTER OF MY HEART.
1999
A movingly written novel, where a dark family secret molds the lives of two close but very different girls. One is the daughter of an upper-caste Calcutta family;
the other is the daughter of the black sheep of the same family. They form a sisterly bond that shatters when one discovers a dark family secret. FICTION/DIVAKARUNI,CHI
Eliade, Mircea.
BENGAL NIGHTS.
1993
A semi-autobiographical novel by a world-renowned scholar detailing his passionate awakenings for Maitreyi, the precocious young poet and former student of Tagore.
Translated from the French. FICTION/ELIADE,MIR
Endo, Shusaku.
DEEP RIVER.
1994.
The author offers a religious vision combining Christian faith with Buddhist acceptance in the story of a group of Japanese tourists who converge at the Ganges River in India. FICTION/ENDO,SHU
Forbes, Leslie.
BOMBAY ICE.
1998
A disturbing letter from her sister, married to a famed Bombay film director, draws London journalist Rosalind Bengal back to her native India, where a series of strange and chaotic events
threaten her life and draw her back into the dark patterns of her lost past. FICTION/FORBES,LES
Forster, E.M.
A PASSAGE TO INDIA.
1992
A depiction of the clash between East and West, and of the prejudices and misunderstandings that foredoomed any possibility of goodwill between the parties involved.
A Passage to India has since been praised as a superb character study of the people of one race
by a writer from another. FICTION/FORSTER,EDW
Fosburgh, Lacey.
INDIA GATE.
1991
Afraid that the murdered white man found in the Indian province controlled by her father's business associate is her brother, Phoebie Guthrie--an American woman raised in
India but living in New York--returns to her adopted homeland. FICTION/FOSBURGH,LAC
Ganesan, Indira.
INHERITANCE.
1998
Fifteen-year-old Sonil joins her grandmother on a paradisiacal island off the coast of India, where she hopes to mend her health and find out about her
mysterious mother. But she falls in love with a young American... FICTION/GANESAN,IND
Ghosh, Amitav.
THE CALCUTTA CHROMOSOME: A Novel of Fevers, Dilirium and Discovery. 1995
An ingenious novel about malaria research, Oriental religion, and computer science. With its frame-tale of a computer operator in New York, looking for clues to
events a century before in India, this book combines the suspense of a Victorian melodrama with the fascination of a scientific thriller. FICTION/GHOSH,AMI
Godden, Rumer.
CROMARTIE v. THE GOD SHIVA ACTING THROUGH THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.
1997
A story based on a real case in which an international incident over the ownership of a priceless bronze statue resulted in the God Shiva becoming the plaintiff in a lawsuit. FICTION/GODDEN,RUM
Godden, Rumer.
KINGFISHERS CATCH FIRE.
1994
In colonial India, Sophie Barrington Ward, a recently widowed Englishwoman with two young children, tries to make a life for her family in a small village. But her
disregard for local politics and customs results in a near-tragic misunderstanding. FICTION/GODDEN,RUM
Hesse, Herman.
SIDDHARTHA.
2000
A moral allegory, based on Indian mysticism and the life of the Buddha, which tries to solve the enigma of human loneliness and discontent. FICTION/HESSE,HER
Irving, John.
A SON OF THE CIRCUS.
1994
Born in Bombay and educated in Vienna, Dr. Farrokh Daruwalla, an orthopedic surgeon living in Toronto, returns periodically to Bombay where most of his patients are crippled children.
He was also the examining physician of two murder victims in Goa. Now, 20 years later, he is reacquainted with the murderer. FICTION/IRVING,JOH
James, Clive.
THE SILVER CASTLE.
1998
One of Britain's most witty and popular writers and television personalities tells the comic-tragic story of Sanjay, a Bombay street child who escapes from abject poverty by
insinuating himself into India's burgeoning, decadent film world. FICTION/JAMES,CLI
Jha, Raj Kamal.
THE BLUE BEDSPREAD.
1999
A Calcutta man whose sister has just died during childbirth keeps the child overnight awaiting the arrival of her adoptive parents. As the evening progresses, he scrawls stories of her
biological family and the mother the child will never know on a blue bedspread. FICTION/JHA,RAJ
Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer.
EAST INTO UPPER EAST: Plain Tales from New York and Delhi. 1998
A collection of fictional short stories explores social life and customs in New York and New Delhi. The settings range from the bazaars of India to Manhattan high-rises, with
each story weaving the universal quandaries of the human experience. FICTION/JHABVALA,RUT
Kali for Women Organization.
THE SLATE OF LIFE: More Contemporary Stories by Women Writers of India. 1990
These are a series of stories by women, published in translation from various Indian languages. The objective of the editors has been to make available as wide a range of
creative writing as possible from the different regions and literatures in India. This ensures not only diversity but also a representative collection of writings by women from 1900 onward. SHORT STORIES/SLATE
Keating, H.R.F.
ASKING QUESTIONS: An Inspector Ghote Mystery. 1997
After checking on charges that someone at a medical center is smuggling out a dangerous drug made from snake venom, Ghote settles on the snake handler as his
prime suspect. But when that man turns up dead, the Inspector has to look in more dangerous places to find answers. MYSTERY/KEATING,HEN
Keating,
H.R.F. BRIBERY, CORRUPTION ALSO.
1999
An Inspector Ghote mystery set in Calcutta. Centered on a house his wife had inherited, the mystery involves a conspiracy to develop the nearby wetlands-and puts
Ghote and his wife in grave danger. MYSTERY/KEATING,HEN
Kesavan, Mukul.
LOOKING THROUGH GLASS.
1995
In 1942, an ambitious young Indian photographer takes an involuntary odyssey through the crumbling Raj. His travels take him from Muslim neighborhoods and
cafes to Hindu wrestling academies to colonial enclaves of vice-regal splendor. FICTION/KESAVAN,MUK
Kirchner, Bharti.
SHARMILA'S BOOK.
1999
Longing for a connection to her Indian heritage, American-born Sharmila Sen agrees to an arranged marriage. Her journey to India forces her to confront her doubts about her
distant intended husband, controlling mother-in-law, and a sinister mystery surrounding the death of her fiancé's first wife. FICTION/KIRCHNER,BHA
Maitraye Devi.
IT DOES NOT DIE: A Romance. 1994
A response to Mircea Eliade's Bengal Nights, this fictionalized tale of their love affair 40 years earlier is an account of what happens when innocence and experience,
enchantment and disillusion, and cultural difference and colonial arrogance collide. FICTION/MAITRAYE,DEV
Mallinson, Allan.
HONORABLE COMPANY: A Novel of India before the Raj. 2000
A representative of the East India Company, Captain Matthew Hervey, discovers peril and adventure during his mission to Chintalpore, an embattled Indian city. FICTION/MALLINSON,ALL
Mann, Paul.
THE BURNING GHATS.
1994
Anglo-Indian attorney George Sansi is asked to investigate when a devastating chemical spill in the holy Ganges River causes the agonizing deaths of
thousands of devout bathers, only to become caught up in a dangerous confrontation with an unscrupulous corporate magnate. MYSTERY/MANN,PAU
Mann, Paul.
THE GANJA COAST.
1995
George Sansi and his American lover, newspaper reporter Annie Ginnaro, set out for the luxurious Goan resort where they plan to investigate a tangled jungle of
Western dropouts, drugs and murder. Lawyer Sansi finds the burned-out beach community in an uproar when a child is discovered strangled after a party. FICTION/MANN,PAU
Mann, Paul.
SEASON OF THE MONSOON.
1993
When a badly mutilated corpse surfaces on a lake in India's Film City, George Sansi, the half-caste son of a well-to-do Indian woman and a former British
army officer, investigates and is drawn into the drug-crazed world of Indian cinema. MYSTERY/MANN,PAU
Maugham, Somerset.
THE RAZOR'S EDGE.
1992
Larry Darrell surrenders his chance to find wealth and the woman he loves in order to seek a faith. His travels take him from the bistros of Paris to the far reaches of India and its mystics. FICTION/MAUGHAM,SOM
Mehta, Gita.
RAJ.
1991
An historical novel that traces the life of an Indian princess from her birth during the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 until India wins its
independence from the empire in the mid-twentieth century. FICTION/MEHTA,GIT
Mehta, Gita.
A RIVER SUTRA.
1993
Set on the banks of India's holiest river amid the constant traffic of pilgrims, archeologists, policemen, priests, and traders, this book weaves the richness of India
into the dangerous lives of its characters. FICTION/MEHTA,GIT Mishra, Pankaj.
THE ROMANTICS.
2000
In a novel set in both modern-day India and Europe, a young Brahmin intellectual finds himself caught between two cultures as he seeks to find his true identity. FICTION/MISHRA,PAN
Mistry, Rohinton.
A FINE BALANCE.
1996
In India during the mid-1970s, after a "State of Internal Emergency" is declared, four very different people-a widowed seamstress, a student, a man and
his nephew who have fled their village's caste violence--find their lives becoming inextricably intertwined. FICTION/MISTRY,ROH
Mistry, Rohinton.
SUCH A LONG JOURNEY.
1992
With his personal life unraveling, Gustad Noble, a Bombay bank clerk, agrees to help the Indian intelligence service, and is quickly caught up in a political scandal. FICTION/MISTRY,ROH
Mukherjee, Bharati.
THE HOLDER OF THE WORLD.
1993
Beigh Masters stumbles upon the records of a remote ancestor and discovers a remarkable woman related only by blood. But persistent investigation leads Beigh
to an unexpectedly intimate understanding. FICTION/MUKHERJEE,BHA
Myers, L.H.
THE ROOT AND THE FLOWER.
2000
Set in the war-torn world of Mughal India, this is an epic story of intrigue, murder and romance; of Tantric abandonment and Buddhist renunciation; of emotional delirium and spiritual adventure. FICTION/MYERS,L.H.
Narayan, R.K.
THE GRANDMOTHER'S TALE AND OTHER STORIES.
1994
The themes of these humane stories are at once Indian and universal. The author takes the India of fantasy and tradition-a place of astrologers and arranged marriages,
of tigers and gods--and brings it gently down to earth. FICTION/NARAYAN,R.K.
Narayan, R.K.
THE WORLD OF NAGARAJ.
1990
Nagaraj is an aimless yet contented man who dreams only of writing a treatise on Narada, a Sanskrit scholar. Then his peaceful domestic world is thrown into turmoil by the arrival of
his runaway nephew, Tim. FICTION/NARAYAN,R
O'Brian, Patrick.
HUSSEIN: AN ENTERTAINMENT.
1999
Hussein, a young elephant handler, arranges for a rival's murder using a fakir's curse. This sets off a series of adventures that include snake-charming, sword fighting, spying,
and stealing a fortuneFICTION/O'BRIAN,PAT
Rana, Indi. THE ROLLER BIRDS OF RAMPUR. 1993
Seventeen-year-old Sheila Mehta, who has been living in England for ten years, returns to India when a romance ends. She finds some comfort in her grandfather and attempts
to balance her two cultures, each with contradictions and injustices. YOUNG ADULT/RANA,IND
Roy, Arundahati.
THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS.
1997
A debut novel of dark foreboding and family tragedy traces the decline of a family in Southern India in the late 1960s, beginning with an episode of forbidden love.
In 1969 in Kerala, India, Rahel and her twin brother, Estha, struggle to forge a childhood for themselves amid the destruction of their family life, as they discover
that the entire world can be transformed in a single moment. FICTION/ROY,ARU
Rushdie, Salman.
MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN.
1995
The "midnight's children" of the title are the 1,001 children born in the first hours of Indian Independence on August 15, 1947. The novel tells how
strangely their lives are intertwined. FICTION/RUSHDIE,SAL
Rushdie, Salman.
THE MOOR'S LAST SIGH.
1995
Moraes Zogoiby offers a revealing account of his family, their evolving fortunes, and the lost world of possibilities in 20th-century India, recounting a universe
of family rifts, greed, dark passion, secrecy, power, and the mysteries of art. FICTION/RUSHDIE,SAL
Ryman, Rebecca.
THE VEIL OF ILLUSION.
1995
Set in 19th-century India, this novel examines the repercussions of romance between Maya Raventhorne, daughter of a bitter half-caste who is presumed dead,
and Christian Pendleton, the naive son of an English official with a secret past. FICTION/RYMAN,REB
Scott, Paul.
THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN.
1998
The first novel of the Raj Quartet recreates the last days of British rule in India. These books are set against the background of the achievement of independence
and vividly depict the political and social backdrop to this period in history. FICTION/SCOTT,PAU
Scott, Paul.
STAYING ON.
1998
This is a postscript of sorts, detailing the lives of two minor characters in the Raj Quartet who remain in India after independence. The story also ties together some
loose ends from the previous books in the Quartet. FICTION/SCOTT,PAU
Seth, Vikram.
A SUITABLE BOY.
1994
Set in India in the early 1950s, this book takes us into the richly imagined world of four large, extended families--the Mehras, the Kapoors, the Chatterjis, and the Khans--and
spins a compulsively readable tale of their lives and loves in provincial India. FICTION/SETH,VIK
Sharma, Akhil.
AN OBEDIENT FATHER.
2000
Ram Karan works for the New Delhi school system but supports his widowed daughter and granddaughter by taking bribes for a small time Congress party boss. Could his
involvement in a terrifying political campaign cost him his life? FICTION/SHARMA,AKH
Sidhwa, Bapsi.
CRACKING INDIA.
1991
An authentic account of the partition of India written by a Pakistani author. This is an account of how a little girl saw
relationships between Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs slowly turn sour and erupt into the pillage and mass slaughter of innocents on all sides. FICTION/SIDHWA,BAP
Singh, Jacquelin.
HOME TO INDIA.
1997
Even after learning her Sikh lover, Tej, is already married, Helen is determined to marry him against all opposition and follows him to India. FICTION/SINGH,JAC
Tharoor, Shashi.
SHOW BUSINESS.
1992
With irrepressible charm and a genius for satire, Tharoor portrays the Indian film world with all its Hollywoodesque glitz and glamour, egos and double standards,
as a metaphor for Indian society. FICTION/THAROOR,SHA
Umrigar, Thrity.
BOMBAY TIME.
2001
During the wedding of one of their neighbors, the longtime residents of a middle-class apartment building in Bombay look back on their lives. FICTION/UMRIGAR,THR
Vakil, Ardashir.
BEACH BOY.
1998
A novel set in Bombay in the early 1970s tells, from his own perspective, the story of an eight-year-old boy caught between his childhood innocence and the
responsibilities of adulthood that arrive all too soon. FICTION/VAKIL,ARD
Vassanji,
M.G. NO NEW LAND.
1991
It is the mid-1970s: Nurdin Lalani and his family, Asian immigrants from Africa, have come to the Toronto suburb of Don Mills only to find that the old world and its values
pursue them. FICTION/VASSANIJI,M.G.
Vijayaraghavan, Vineeta.
MOTHERLAND.
2001
A 15-year-old Indian girl reluctantly returns to India, where she confronts her heritage head on in the person of her grandmother Ammamma as she struggles to come to
terms with her dual loyalties. FICTION/VIJAYARAGHAVAN,VIN
Whelan, Gloria.
HOMELESS BIRD.
2001
Discovering that her husband-to-be in her arranged marriage is too young and desperately ill, 13-year-old Koly knows that her life will never be the
same after she is married. She must find a way to make things better for herself despite family traditions. YOUNG ADULT/WHELAN,GLO