1. The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye  By far, the most acclaimed novel of this sensational author and a must read for any person interested in India. Never has there been a non-Indian author who wrote with such love and honesty about India. M.M. Kaye was born in India and her family had a huge history there during the English occupation so she has first hand knowledge of the country.  People who can not read a novel more than 500 pages should be cautious with her works because they are huge, but they are also consuming with the ability to draw the reader into the Indian world. At its heart it is a love story between a British soldier and an Indian Princess but it is so packed with adventure one can not classify it as a romance novel. It touches on many Indian subjects such as caste, suttee (the burning of widows), royal polygamy, dowry, and Afghanistan which was once a part of India
2. Shadow of the Moon by M. M. Kaye Does the fact that she holds my top 2 places tell you anything about how I feel towards this author? :-)This is again a love story but one that unfolds during the infamous Mutiny of 1857. It touches on the following subjects to name but a few: the British Raj, caste system, religion and of course the Mutiny itself which left hundreds dead.

3. What the Body Remembers by Shauna Singh Baldwin This is a first work for Shauna Singh and shows alot of promise for her. She portrays an India that many people never knew existed and the political turmoil of the partition of 1947 through the young woman Roop (many of you will know this name from my Rajasthani Barbie Collection ) Here is what the review at Amazon says:This story begins and ends with rebirth-an apt metaphor for the tragedy of Indian partition. The heart of this novel is the home where Sardarji, a middle-aged Sikh engineer, has brought his new wife, 16 year old Roop. The only problem is his current wife, Satya.OK, folks, this is a hard read in many ways. This book is in English but she frequently uses alot of words in Punjabi and Urdu. Unlike many novels, it is almost impossible to use context clues to figure out what these words mean. It is very helpful to have someone who can speak Hindi or Punjabi but not entirely necessary. If you can stumble through it, this is a remarkable book.

4. Raj: A Novel by Gita Mehta This is a truly awesome book. Not only is it written by an Indian woman (a rare thing in today's novel market) but it is so historically accurate, you can get as much from this book as you can from a history book. However, don't let that history book part scare you. It is a remarkable story about a remarkable woman. Here is what Amazon has to say about Raj: Jaya Singh is  the intelligent, beautiful and compassionate daughter of the Maharajah and Maharani of Balmer. Raised in the age old tradtion of purdah, a strict regime of seclusions, silence and submission, Jaya is ill prepared to assume the role of Regent Maharani of Sirpur. But Jaya bravely fulfills her duty and soon finds herself in the center of a rolling battle that will shape her country.

5.  The Jewel in the Crown/The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott At its heart, this is a love story written by a man who loved India very much. I rarely select books written by male authors for personal reasons (no I am not a female chauvinist, I just relate to female writers better...maybe because I am a woman???? :-) Anyway back to this book...let me tell you something. It took me 6 months to complete this book series but it was one of the best reads I have ever had. It is actually a combination of Four very big and very intense books that begin before the Partition and end with the Partition. It begins with the forbidden love affair of an Indian man and an English woman during a time when India was burning from within. Complicating matters is the rape of the English woman later and the local law enforcer who also happens to love her and is very PREJUDICED against any Indian. These books do not end there, but go on to the tell the story of an incredible amount of people tied to each other in way or another. It exposes the good and bad of the India Raj.

6. The Bride Wore Red by Robbie Clipper Sethi  Ok Folks, this is not a historical novel. It is fiction, which really surprised me because it reads like a woman's true accounts. It is written by an American woman married to an Indian man and not surprisingly, it is about Indian and American cross-cultural marriage. This book is a MUST for anyone non-Indian marrying an Indian. While things actually went alot smoother in this book then it does in real life, it does give you an idea of what you are getting into.

7. A Princess Remembers by Gayatri Devi  Probably the only book in my collection that is not fiction! This is the true memoirs of one of the last ruling royal family members of India. It is an extraordinary book and one that touched me deeply. Gayatri Devi was born into a long line of royal lineage and her memoirs details her life in India. It begins before Partition and ends after the JFK era. It is very interesting to note the differences between the common Indian woman and one born to wealth and royalty. While this book does not list the differences, you can pick up on them if you are paying attention. Example: most Indian women do not drink or smoke and consider it in bad taste for women, yet the women in this royal family did both. Gayatri married royalty as well and became the third wife of the Maharaja of Jaipur (all other wives were still alive when she married her husband). Also interesting to note, after partition she entered politics.

8. The Twentieth Wife  by Indu Sundaresan Well as the name implies, it is about a woman who becomes her husband's 20th Wife but it is a wonderful book by a female Indian author and a rare find. This book is based on historical truth, but unfortunately we do not know alot about the actual emperess it was fashioned after. Most of the book is the creation of the author; however, this girl did exist and she was a powerful woman. The book starts with her birth and lasts through a bad first marriage. She does marry her Prince and he succeeds his father to the throne of India. This would be Prince Salim and his father was the great ruler Akbar. Of course, no matter what her power, a woman in this time was always part of a gilded harem and from here she had to learn how to wield her power. Interesting to note is that Prince Salim's son was responsible for building the Taj Mahal. Passionate love must run in the family.

9. Nectar in A Seive by Kamala Markandaya This is a very short book but don't let that fool you. There is so much packed into this little novel that if you blink you miss something. In some ways it is a very hard read in the fact that it is so realistic. After I read the book, I was shocked to find it out that it was written over 45 years ago. It is so modern and forward thinking that I assumed it had been written in the past year or two. At its core is Rukmani, a peasant Indian girl who marries her husband at age 12. This might shock some but it was a very common practice. This story is a tell of her life, struggles and joys. It is impossible to read this book and forget it. 

10. Desirable Daughters: A Novel by Bharati Mukherjee Amazon.com
     It begins on a fantastic note: on a winter night in an east Bengali village in 1879, the narrator's ancestor, 5-year-old Tara Lata, is married to a tree after her 13-year-old husband-to-be dies of a snakebite on their wedding day. The novel ends some 120 years later, when Tara, the 36-year-old narrator, returns to this same village in winter with her teenaged son. Like her ancestor, Tara Bhattacharjee is the youngest of three sisters of a Brahmin family. Although they grew up in Calcutta, Tara and the oldest sister now live in America while the middle sister lives in Bombay. Tara was married (in an arranged marriage) at age 19 to Bish Chatterjee, a genius who makes a fortune from a cutting-edge computer process. He and Tara are estranged when the novel opens, but when a stranger claiming kinship shows up at the house that Tara shares in San Francisco with her son and her boyfriend, she reconsiders her assumptions about her entire family. -Susan Biskeborn

11. A Breath of Fresh Air by Amulya Malladi 

12. Darjeeling
    by Bharti Kirchner

13. I Speak for the Devil
    by Imtiaz Dharker

14. Heir to Govandhara
    by Saira Ramasastry

15. For the Love of My Name by Lakshmi Persaud - As stated before, Indian culture within India and abroad can give us some fascinating insight. With this in mind, I would like to introduce you to the works of Lakshmi Persaud. (You may find more of Mrs. Persaud's works further down in the list) Mrs. Persaud's novels are primarily focused on Indian life in the Caribbean. I personally had no idea that the Caribbean had such a big Indian influence until recently. According to Mrs. Persaud's publishers, Peepal Tree Press, in the 19th Century over 2 million Indians went to work in the Caribbean as indentured servants ( I shutter at that word because it is almost like a form of slavery in many instances). With these migrating workers, many different Indian cultures were introduced and today is a fascinating and thriving part of the Caribbean. Here is a summary of ,  For the Love of My Name,  provided by Peepal Tree Press:   For the Love of my Name is the third novel from the celebrated author of Sastra and Butterfly in the Wind. Torn between confession and self-justification, President for Life, Robert Augustus Devonish writes his memoirs as his country falls apart around him; Kamilia prepares for a workers' last stand against his regime; Vasu sets off to investigate the rumours of untold horrors in a commune deep in the interior; and Marguerite Devonish has to decide between loyalty to family or country in bringing to an end her brother's crimes. Through these and many other unforgettable characters Lakshmi Persaud tells of the last days of the Caribbean island of Maya before it sinks beneath the sea. Told through multiple voices, whose tones range through the lyrical, the direct and unvarnished, the conversational and the polished, For the Love of My Name weaves a striking tapestry of hatreds and loves, duty and the degradation of consciousness, despairs and hopes. Above all the bright threads of human resilience glint in the weave.

16. The Vine of Desire
    by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

17. Bitter Gourd and Other Stories
    by Talat Abbasi

18. Dying in a Strange Country: Stories
    by Tahira Naqvi

19. Ladies Coupe: A Novel in Parts
    by Anita Nair

20. Bombay Time: A Novel
    by Thrity Umrigar

21. Motherland
    by Vineeta Vijayaraghavan

22. Something Barely Remembered
    by Susan Visvanathan

23. Incantations and Other Stories
    by Anjana Appachana

24. Riot: A Love Story by Shashi Tharoor- If you are looking for a feel good Love Story, this is not it, but it is a great read and one of the best books about modern India I have ever read. Even though the setting of this book takes place in the late 1980's, the ideas and philosophies of the characters can be found in many hearts and minds today. Though this particular religious riot is a work of fiction, it is closely based on another riot that shook India in the early 1990's. Interestingly, it's basis can also be linked to the communal riots that shook Gujurat, India in the last few years. In this novel, communal violence in India grabs the world's attention when pretty, young, American Priscilla Hart is murdered. Priscilla is a golden child of America, smart beautiful and sympathetic to the world's problems. Having come to India as a child with her parents, she carries an impression of India in her heart as she grows up. It is not surprising that she returns to do her field work. She chooses one of the poorest and neglected states in India, Utter Pradesh to help better the lives of Indian women and teach them about the choices they have over their own bodies. She harbors no hate or prejudice for any religion and tries to help all equally. Everyone assumes that she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, becoming a victim of a religious riot between Hindus and Muslims. But is that true? Or, did her choices in love and life bring her to her early death? Intelligent, beautiful, sweet Priscilla was in love with an Indian man, a married Indian man who happened to be the most powerful man in his city. Though at it's core it is a love story, I have to tell you that it is probably one of the best books you can ever read if you want to know why there is so much hatred between SOME Hindus and Muslims. Whether they are true or not, each group believes they are true both in the book and in real life.

25. Sister of My Heart
    by Chitra Banerjee

26. Arranged Marriage: Stories
    by Chitra Banerjee

27. Wife
    by Bharati Mukherjee

28. Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee  by Meera Syal - An excellent read! I always enjoy reading books by Indian authors because I fell they can give us an even more unique approach to Indian society both in India and abroad. At times, this book was very hard to read because of the emotional turmoil it catches the reader up in but it is well worth the tears and anger you might experience. Meera Syal's second novel features a trio of close and somewhat unlikely childhood friends. Sunita, a former law student and activist, has married her university sweetheart Akash, and is settled into a life of overweight, underappreciated motherhood. Tania is a raven-maned beauty who's rejected marriage and anything traditionally Asian for a high-flying TV career and a compliant Indophile boyfriend. And then there's Chila. Innocent, kind, funny Chila, with her simple soul and her glass animal collection, has just, to everyone's amazement, snared Deepak--the "most eligible bachelor within a twenty-mile radius."

29. Difficult Daughters
    by Manju Kapur

30. Malgudi Days (Twentieth-Century Classics)
    by R. K. Narayan

31. Sharmila's Book
    by Bharti Kirchner

32. Shiva Dancing
    by Bharti Kirchner

33. Love, Stars, and All That
    by Kirin Narayan

34. Of Marriageable Age by Sharon Maas

35. Olivia and Jai  by Rebecca Ryman - I do not mind telling you all that I have started and stopped this book three times.  I must confess that the first few pages did not really catch me though it might have been some fault of my own. I also do not mind telling you that by halfway through the book, the reader probably will not be able to put it down. Interesting turn? Well let's just say that this book is full of some twists and turns that are surprising. It is a love story about a half-caste (I cringe at this word but it really does exist and was used most prejudicially during British Rule in India), anyway a story about Jai Raventhorne who is a half English and half Indian during the 1800's. His father is a mystery and he is feared by much of English society, not only because of what he is but also because he refuses to be kept down and out of the way like people expect him to be. Enter the scene, a lovely young American named Olivia. As one of the characters so aptly says, "Americans are not at all sensitive to scandals!" and thus a secret love affair blooms. No one could be prepared for the turn the book takes about halfway and I must admit it wrenched my heart and left me with several sleepless nights just to see what happens next.

36. Butterfly in the Wind by Lakshmi Persaud - A sensitive account of the passage from childhood to to womanhood which shows both the richness and limits of Trinidadian Indian society. What more can be said :-)?

37. Sastra by Lakshmi Persaud - Sastra focuses on the choices a young Hindu woman in Trinidad has to make between her own desires and obedience to tradition. From Amazon.com "The pundit warns Sastra's mother that her daughter's birth signs foretell two possible destinys, one of prosperous securities if she keeps to the path of obedience to tradition, the other a mixture of joy and misery if she should attempt to 'fly' and follow her own desires. Set in Trinidad, Sastra is a moving and tender love story, a rich evocation of the village world and a memorable portrayal of a brave young woman who never tries to evade or complain about the consequences of her choice.

38. (untitled) by Lakshmi Persaud - Ok Folks...here is the buzz...there is another work in store for us from this multi-talented writer. As soon as I know more, I will pass it along to you! 

39. Tamarind Woman - By Anita Rau Badami- From the acclaimed author of The Hero's Walk comes this semi-modern story about the life of an Indian woman or two that is :-) While told primarily from the perspective of  Kamini, a modern woman of the world now living in Canada, it is her mother's story that interests me the most. Saroja was born in a generation of strict traditional values. She had wanted desperately to go to college and marriage was far from her mind. She was practically forced into marriage with a man she did not want and had to learn to be content with a life she never wanted to live. Kamini can not understand her mother and even though she loves her deeply, places the blame of family discontent on her mother. Many years after Kamini's father's death, Saroja finds peace and Kamini learns that nothing is ever one sided.
    

BACK TO TRADITIONS