Amitav Ghosh – Flood of Fire
The opium war story continues to be deftly shaped by a master storyteller. It provides a terrific insight into a time and place in Indian history.
Atul Gawande – Being Mortal
The story of growing old is deeply felt, and touchingly told, and asks the essential question of doctors: what do you do when the treatment hurts, rather than helps, an aging patient?
Sunjeev Sahota – The Year of the Runaways
Shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker. A sprawling story of 13 young men escaping from an Indian past and looking for a new life in England.
Mindy Kaling – Why Not Me?
A hilarious, tongue-in-cheek look at beauty, weight, relationships and other angst matters
Anuradha Roy – Sleeping on Jupiter
Longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker. A dark story about the sticky threads of religion, love and loss
A Greek presidential guard stands as he seen through the remains of a European Union flag half-burnt by protesters in Athens, on Wednesday, May 1, 2013. About 8,000 people took part in subdued demonstrations in Athens as austerity-weary unions held a strike for May Day. The country’s main labor unions protested soaring unemployment, which is the highest in the 27-country European Union, and the austerity measures the conservative-led government is enacting in return for crucial bailout loans. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Sujata Massey – The Kizuna Coast
A Rei Shimura mystery (#11)
Set in Japan, amateur sleuth Rei sets out to investigate the suspicious disappeareance of a young woman
Salman Rushdie – Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights
Narrated by people born 1,000 years hence, looking back on a battle waged over 1,001 nights by a motley of real and mythical characters engaged in saving the world
Jay Antani – The Leaving of Things
A young Indian American teenager comes to terms with who and where he belongs when he is forced to live in India
Raj Kamal Jha – She Will Build Him a City
A beguiling tale about the intersecting lives of a man, woman and child in a city rife with violence and humanity
Sejal Hadani – Trail of Broken Wings
Buried secrets are exposed and humiliations and retaliations are aired as three sisters unite at their father’s coma bed
Pans
Akhil Sharma – Family Life
A deeply personal tragic story told in a dispassionate, almost clinical manner. It seemed as though the author could not connect with his culture or his emotions.
Kunal Nayyar – Yes, My Accent is Real
Kunal Nayyar’s personal story failed to be a compelling one. The narrative lacked depth and comic timing.