New books by Indian authors releasing this August

By Shobha Rao, Random House Large Print

In Shobha Rao’s newest title, a couple doesn’t want to get married, and the small town in Montana they move to definitely doesn’t want them. Janvi and Sagar move to Montana when the latter gets a job dismantling a dam, but the couple walks straight into a storm of prejudice, isolation, and suspicion. And when a colleague winds up dead, all fingers point their way. Indian Country is part love story, part survival drama, and partly about how colonial wounds don’t fade with distance—they just show up in new, dangerous disguises. Releases August 5

By Manish Gaekwad, HarperCollins India

Picture Manish Gaekwad—a model boarding school resident reciting classic English poetry by day and, by night, swaying to Bollywood music in the dark. Nautch Boy is Gaekwad’s fearless, funny, and heartbreaking memoir about living between two worlds as a courtesan’s son. But before you dive into this, if you haven’t read it already, pick up his previous novel, The Last Courtesan, an attempt at immortalising his mother’s life. Releases August 14

By Amit Majmudar, Penguin

Welcome to Kurukshetra: 18 days, countless bodies, and a war where family means nothing and everything. Arjuna squares off against Karna, Bheem takes on Duryodhan, and Shikandi faces Bheeshma, while curses, boons, and divine tricks complicate the battlefield. The Book of Killings is Majmudar’s explosive finale to his Mahabharata trilogy, a brutal retelling that makes an ancient epic feel like the most high-stakes showdown of the year. Releases August 30

By Amish, Harper Fiction India

Another historical fiction title by a writer who is best known for it. Amish’s The Chola Tigers is the second book in his Indic Chronicles series. It’s the bloody history of Mahmud of Ghazni’s attack on the Somnath temple in India and the counterstrike ordered by the great Tamil emperor Rajendra Chola. Personal vendetta meets political history meets redemption in this 480-page saga. Releases August 29

By Srishti Chaudhary, Penguin eBury Press

Shimla, 1940: where colonial glamour shimmers on the surface, and a revolution simmers underneath. In the Royal Hotel, run by sisters Nalini, Noor, and Afreen, the Summer Jubilee Ball promises sparkle and prestige—until whispers of a deadly plot threaten to blow it all apart. British officers are watching, revolutionaries are plotting, and Nalini’s forbidden romance only raises the stakes. If you’re a fan of historical fiction, A Shimla Affair has enough twists and turns to keep you flipping every page. Releases August 15

By Anil Yadav, translated from the Hindi by Vaibhav Sharma, Penguin eBury Press

Courtesans Don’t Read Newspapers translates author Anil Yadav’s words into a poetic collection of short stories that explore a world of privilege. A journalist uncovers a plot that could wipe out an entire colony of sex workers and suddenly the story of a lifetime becomes a matter of life and death in the title story. In one of the short stories, ‘The Folk Singer’s Swan Song’, we encounter a singer whose music gets inextricably linked to politics and power. ‘Lord Almighty' offers a socio-political take on the condition of those on the fringes of society where a riot can both destroy and save them. Releases August 14

By Salma, translated by GJV Prasad, Simon and Schuster India

Originally published in 2004, this is GJV Prasad’s translation of Tamil writer Salma’s first novel, Irandaam Jaamangalin Kathai. It’s a woman’s coming of age under watchful eyes and suffocating rules in a conservative household. It follows Rabia doing all the things teenagers do—sneaking out to movies, entwined with her best friend Mathina, but all the while dreaming of school and a future without whispers of her impending marriage to a man named Ahmad. Then, long-buried family secrets are unearthed, marriages fail, and the real world threatens the ways of the patriarchal family. Releases August 8

By Arundhati Roy, Penguin Hamish Hamilton

A memoir is a first for author Arundhati Roy, and reviews say it’s as searing as it is tender. Written after the death of her mother, Mary Roy, the book unravels her relationship with her parent, whom she calls both “shelter and storm”, while tracing her journey from a childhood in Kerala to life as a writer in Delhi. Mother Mary Comes to Me is an elegy that also becomes a reckoning, revealing how love and defiance can shape a life as much as grief. Releases August 28