Backflap: Maa
Maa
by Anurupa Devi. Translated by Sanjukta Banerji Bhattacharya.
Rupa. Pages 308. Rs 395
Anurupa Devi’s ‘Maa’ is a period piece on the private world of Bengali women as viewed through the unique lens of a writer who belonged to and knew that society intimately. This is a story of human emotions as they play out in the inner sanctum of the home. It revolves around four characters in a turn-of-the-19th-century setting in the aftermath of the social churning caused by the Bengal Renaissance. The book has been translated by her granddaughter.
The New Delhi Book Club
by Radhika Swarup.
Westland.
Pages 160. Rs 499
An elderly woman falls down in her home; a market trader battles against being housebound until his cousin is felled by the virus; a young boy falls in love with a girl on the rooftop across; a migrant labourer sets off on foot for his village as work dries up — these and other stories bring back memories of the pandemic. Through interconnected stories, banker-turned-writer Radhika Swarup tries to paint a vivid portrait of a community and find hope and joy even in the most trying of times.
Murder in the City
by Mayabhushan Nagvenkar.
Rupa.
Pages 181. Rs 295
Why did a former sex worker-turned-serial killer confess to her crimes? Was the university gold medallist killed by right-wing fanatics? Who did Swami Shraddhananda hire to make a custom coffin for his wife? Former journalist Mayabhushan Nagvenkar launches a fresh exploration of some of the most puzzling metropolitan murders in India.
