Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire

Historian Nandini Das’ debut book takes us to the point when Thomas Roe entered India as James I’s first ambassador to the Mughal Empire, marking the beginning of Britain’s long entangled history with India. Roe was representing a kingdom beset by financial woes and deeply conflicted about its identity as a unified ‘Great Britain’. The court he entered in India was wealthy and cultured, its dominion widely considered to be one of the greatest and richest empires of the world. Das’ fascinating history of Roe’s four years in India offers an insider’s view of a Britain in the making. It is a story of palace intrigue and scandal, lotteries and wagers that unfolds as global trade begins to stretch.

Japanese Management, Indian Resistance

Unions are the last line of defence workers have in modern industries, especially when the management isn’t averse to undermining their rights, dignity and health. A violent confrontation between the workers of Maruti Suzuki and the management in 2012 resulted in the death of a manager and injury to hundreds of workers and management staff. Thirteen workers, including the entire Maruti Suzuki Workers Union leadership, were given life term in 2017. However, the workers have claimed innocence. ‘Japanese Management, Indian Resistance’ tells the story from the perspective of the factory workers interviewed over three years. The authors say the book is a glimpse into the new India, turning from a welfare state into a corporate state, in which profits trump the rights of citizens

The Pledge: Adventures to Sada

Best known as the author of the Muzaffar Jang detective series, Madhulika Liddle joins hands with writer-director Kannan Iyer for a Mandala Purana series of books. The first in this series is ‘The Pledge’, a richly detailed fantasy adventure stretching across time and space. As much a story of evil and intolerance as of love and justice, it is an exploration of humanity. Inspired by a story by film producer Amit Bolakani, the authors have created a fantasy world that promises to enrapture and absorb you till the end. It is set in an imaginary time and tells the story of an ailing old magician whose last wish is to have his and his wife’s ashes immersed in Sada river, a journey that will test the limit of his son and his companions.

The Story of My Life

A formidable woman with a great zest for life, Dosebai Cowasjee Jessawalla marched through the Indian Parsi society without a care for its stifling patriarchal norms that bound women to household drudgery. Born in Bombay in 1832, she was one of the first Indian Parsi women to receive higher education. Her remarkable autobiography, which was first published by her sons only months before her death in 1911, describes her youth, education, marriage and global travels. Her experiences are not just a reflection of the challenges faced even by privileged women in the 19th century, but also of attempts to indigenise European practices. In telling her story, she also chronicles the evolution of the Parsi community through the 19th century and the merging of tradition and modernity.

These infinite threads

The much-anticipated sequel to America-based author Tahereh Mafi’s ‘The Woven Kingdom’ is here. Like the first book, ‘These Infinite Threads’ is full of explosive magic, searing romance, and heartbreaking betrayal. With the heat of a kiss, the walls between Alizeh, the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom, and Kamran, the crown prince of the Ardunian empire, have crumbled. And so have both of their lives. Alizeh is destined to free her people from the half-lives they’ve been forced to live under human rule. When Kamran, the heir to the human throne, falls in love with her, he’s forced to question everything he’s been taught about Jinn. Mafi is the National Book Award nominated and the bestselling author of ‘An Emotion of Great Delight’. ‘Shatter Me’ series marked her literary debut.

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