A sin of colour
The Crossword Book Award, which hopes to evolve into the Indian equivalent of the Booker, has raised its prize money from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh this year. It's also started a new award for Indian language fiction translations for the same amount. H
A sin of colour
Sunetra Gupta,/b.
A mysterious house called Mandalay, a man missing in Oxford-these are the two elements around which Gupta weaves her gripping tale. The novel straddles two worlds Gupta's intensely familiar with: Oxford, where she lives, and Calcutta, where she hails from.
Mango-coloured fish,/I>
Kavery Nambisan
The story of Shari, a young girl who finds the strength to step out of societal mores and strike out on her own. And in her struggle to grapple with her past, she discovers ways to deal with her future.
The gabriel club
Joydeep Bhattacharya
A life-like effigy of their vanished leader revives memories. And 17 years after they broke up under the increasing scrutiny of the Communist regime against which they had risen, the Gabriel Club resurrects itself.
Listening now
Anjana Appachana
A skilled, emotionally fraught tale, narrated through the voices of five women. It might alienate the men with its litany of pain, but will find an empathetic sisterhood of readers.
An equal music
Vikram Seth
A gentle story of doomed love which never quite achieves a crescendo. The passion, in fact, sparks more convincingly in the passages about the protagonists' shared love of music. Seth's prose of course, as always, beguiles.