6 unputdownable books for August

Arshia DharPublished on Aug 09, 2023

6 new unputdownable books for August

This month, there is a range of new releases that tell the most gripping tales in both fiction and non-fiction

This month, there is range of new releases that tell the most gripping tales in both fiction and non-fiction

August seems to have ushered in with it a flurry of compelling and unputdownable non-fiction, and equally thrilling fiction that promise to keep you glued to the page. We list six new titles that serve your attention.

The Memoirs of Valmiki Rao by Lindsay PereiraThe novel is a contemporary retelling of the Ramayana set against a Mumbai riddled with communal violence post the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. Through this book, Lindsay Periera pens a compelling ‘Bombay novel’ that gives a view of the sordid lives led by the ones living on Mumbai’s peripheries.It is the story of Rameshwar Shinde, Ravinarayan Kumar, a young woman named Janaki, and their neighbours, all of whom cohabit in the shadows of highrises. As their lives get taken apart due to bigotry, the grimy landscape of the city unfolds to reveal truths that change their lives forever.Publisher: Penguin Random House India — **The Memoirs of Valmiki Rao** **by Lindsay Pereira**
The novel is a contemporary retelling of the Ramayana set against a Mumbai riddled with communal violence post the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. Through this book, Lindsay Periera pens a compelling ‘Bombay novel’ that gives a view of the sordid lives led by the ones living on Mumbai’s peripheries.
It is the story of Rameshwar Shinde, Ravinarayan Kumar, a young woman named Janaki, and their neighbours, all of whom cohabit in the shadows of highrises. As their lives get taken apart due to bigotry, the grimy landscape of the city unfolds to reveal truths that change their lives forever.
**Publisher:** Penguin Random House India

Goa, 1961: The Complete Story of Nationalism and Integration by Valmiki FaleiroGoa’s liberation in 1961 and its integration into the Indian Union in 1962 is barely understood at best, and entirely misunderstood at worst. What led to the 36-hour-long military operation, especially since it was the first one since Independence that occurred entirely at India's initiative? What was the political climate within Goa at the time, and what role did Goans themselves play in it?In this book, former journalist Valmiki Faleiro covers a wide range of subjects in detail, including the entire story of Operation Vijay, the events that preceded it and those that followed. This nuanced retelling captures every beat of Goa’s modern history. Faleiro meticulously outlines the current political climate and Goa’s changing character, the part played by indigenous independence movements and freedom fighters leading to the liberation of Goa, and the impact of its consequent assimilation into India.Publisher: Penguin Random House India — **Goa, 1961: The Complete Story of Nationalism and Integration** **by Valmiki Faleiro**
Goa’s liberation in 1961 and its integration into the Indian Union in 1962 is barely understood at best, and entirely misunderstood at worst. What led to the 36-hour-long military operation, especially since it was the first one since Independence that occurred entirely at India's initiative? What was the political climate within Goa at the time, and what role did Goans themselves play in it?
In this book, former journalist Valmiki Faleiro covers a wide range of subjects in detail, including the entire story of Operation Vijay, the events that preceded it and those that followed. This nuanced retelling captures every beat of Goa’s modern history. Faleiro meticulously outlines the current political climate and Goa’s changing character, the part played by indigenous independence movements and freedom fighters leading to the liberation of Goa, and the impact of its consequent assimilation into India.
**Publisher:** Penguin Random House India

Family Lore by Elizabeth AcevedoFlor has a gift: she can foretell, to the day, when someone will die. So the moment she decides she wants a living wake—a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led—her sisters wonder if she has predicted her own death, or someone else’s? They wonder if she has other motives, which Flor refuses to tell her sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila.However, Flor isn’t the only person with secrets, as her sisters too are hiding things. And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face difficulties of their own.Spanning the three days prior to the wake, Family Lore traces the lives of each of the Marte women, tying together their past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City. Writer Elizabeth Acevedo’s powerful prose paints an indelible portrait of a family's journey through their history, helping them better navigate all that lies ahead of them.Publisher: HarperCollins — **Family Lore** **by Elizabeth Acevedo**
Flor has a gift: she can foretell, to the day, when someone will die. So the moment she decides she wants a living wake—a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led—her sisters wonder if she has predicted her own death, or someone else’s? They wonder if she has other motives, which Flor refuses to tell her sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila.
However, Flor isn’t the only person with secrets, as her sisters too are hiding things. And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face difficulties of their own.
Spanning the three days prior to the wake, *Family Lore* traces the lives of each of the Marte women, tying together their past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City. Writer Elizabeth Acevedo’s powerful prose paints an indelible portrait of a family's journey through their history, helping them better navigate all that lies ahead of them.
**Publisher:** HarperCollins

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBrideIn 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected was to find a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Whose skeleton it was and how it landed there were two of the darkest secrets withheld by the residents of Chicken Hill, the rundown neighbourhood where immigrant Jews and African-Americans cohabited in peace. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived, where Moshe pursued his theatre and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalise him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin—the Black janitor at Moshe’s theatre and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill—who worked together to keep the boy safe.As the stories of these characters overlap and grow deeper, it becomes evident how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America strive and what they must do to stay afloat. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that keep us alive.Publisher: Riverhead Books — **The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store** **by James McBride**
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected was to find a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Whose skeleton it was and how it landed there were two of the darkest secrets withheld by the residents of Chicken Hill, the rundown neighbourhood where immigrant Jews and African-Americans cohabited in peace. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived, where Moshe pursued his theatre and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalise him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin—the Black janitor at Moshe’s theatre and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill—who worked together to keep the boy safe.
As the stories of these characters overlap and grow deeper, it becomes evident how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America strive and what they must do to stay afloat. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that keep us alive.
**Publisher:** Riverhead Books

Western Lane: A Novel by Chetna MarooEleven-year-old Gopi has been playing squash since she was old enough to hold a racket. When her mother dies, her father signs her up for a quietly brutal training regimen, and the game becomes her world. Gradually, she grows apart from her sisters, as her life gets crystallised into the sport, guided by its rhythms: the serve, the volley, the drive, the shot and its echo.But on the court, she is not alone, as she is accompanied by her father and Ged, a 13-year-old boy with his own remarkable talent. She is with the players who have come before her, and the ones she is in awe of.Western Lane—Maroo’s debut novel—is a coming-of-age story, which captures the ordinary and annihilates it with beauty.Publisher: Macmillan Publishers — **Western Lane: A Novel** **by Chetna Maroo**
Eleven-year-old Gopi has been playing squash since she was old enough to hold a racket. When her mother dies, her father signs her up for a quietly brutal training regimen, and the game becomes her world. Gradually, she grows apart from her sisters, as her life gets crystallised into the sport, guided by its rhythms: the serve, the volley, the drive, the shot and its echo.
But on the court, she is not alone, as she is accompanied by her father and Ged, a 13-year-old boy with his own remarkable talent. She is with the players who have come before her, and the ones she is in awe of.
*Western Lane*—Maroo’s debut novel—is a coming-of-age story, which captures the ordinary and annihilates it with beauty.
**Publisher:** Macmillan Publishers

Unbroken: The Untold Story by Indrani MukerjeaFifth of August in 2015 was to be a happy day for Indrani Mukerjea, as a grand birthday celebration had been planned in the family. But everything changed when she was accosted by a group of officers from the Mumbai Police in plain clothes while she was leaving the Anand Ashram that day. The charge: murder of her daughter, Sheena Bora.As the news spread and more details unravelled, Mukerjea found herself in the middle of a sensational murder investigation, with a fast-expanding list of suspects, the beginnings of a murky murder plot, and the strong whiff of a brewing scandal, as the media had smelt blood. And, soon, Mukerjea was hounded by the media, making her a household name. Accusations of filicide, broken marriages, a mighty business empire, the shallow lives of the rich and famous, powerful politicians, and a complicated family—this case had it all. As a constant feed of images and updates from the trial bombarded television screens across the country, people grew more and more curious about this woman who was at the very heart of the story.In this memoir for the very first time, Mukerjea talks about the journey from her childhood in Guwahati to becoming a media baron in Mumbai, and finally, the 2,460 days she spent in Byculla jail as prisoner number 1468.Publisher: HarperCollins India — **Unbroken: The Untold Story** **by Indrani Mukerjea**
Fifth of August in 2015 was to be a happy day for Indrani Mukerjea, as a grand birthday celebration had been planned in the family. But everything changed when she was accosted by a group of officers from the Mumbai Police in plain clothes while she was leaving the Anand Ashram that day. The charge: murder of her daughter, Sheena Bora.
As the news spread and more details unravelled, Mukerjea found herself in the middle of a sensational murder investigation, with a fast-expanding list of suspects, the beginnings of a murky murder plot, and the strong whiff of a brewing scandal, as the media had smelt blood. And, soon, Mukerjea was hounded by the media, making her a household name. Accusations of filicide, broken marriages, a mighty business empire, the shallow lives of the rich and famous, powerful politicians, and a complicated family—this case had it all. As a constant feed of images and updates from the trial bombarded television screens across the country, people grew more and more curious about this woman who was at the very heart of the story.
In this memoir for the very first time, Mukerjea talks about the journey from her childhood in Guwahati to becoming a media baron in Mumbai, and finally, the 2,460 days she spent in Byculla jail as prisoner number 1468.
**Publisher:** HarperCollins India

Also Read: These 5 new books will take you back in time and space

Also Read: 5 new books to add to your February reading list

Also Read: 10 business books you need to read

6 new unputdownable books for August

This month, there is range of new releases that tell the most gripping tales in both fiction and non-fiction

Read Next

Subscribe for More