historical fiction - Comfortably Numb

Book review: Victory City by Salman Rushdie

Down Hampi way Salman Rushdie the story-teller, is back with a — to quickly borrow a term made famous recently by Deepika Padukone — banger of a book, Victory City. The story details the rise and fall of Bisnaga (Vijayanagara), as narrated by its creator-midwife Pampa Kampana, the woman who Will Not Age. It`s a…

Book review: Fortune`s Soldier by Alex Rutherford

History as entertainment The story is as much about the two men as it is about the insidious way that the East India Company worked to eventually establish British rule in India. The friendship of two men, the fictional Nicholas Ballantyne and the actual historical figure of Robert Clive, forms the basis of the story…

Book review: The Brahmin by Ravi Shankar Etteth

The killing game A fast-paced thoroughly entertaining read that mixes up some history, some espionage and some gory stuff. Ravi Shankar Etteth is back with his fifth book and this one The Brahmin (Westland Books) is a spy thriller. Not your routine spy thriller, though; this story is set in the times of Ashoka ruler…

Book review: Songs of the Cauvery by Kalyanaraman Durgadas

The flow of life By the banks of the Cauvery in Tamil Nadu, a set of people try to make sense of their life and times. As the nineteenth century draws to a close and the twentieth appears on the horizon, India`s freedom struggle is fast gaining traction. This story is set in the…

Book review: Pradyumna by Usha Narayanan

A karmic burden There is valour, cowardice, glory, shame, sex, lies and deception in Pradyumna’s story. What do we know of Pradyumna? That he was Krishna and Rukmini’s eldest born who, even as he lay in his crib, was snatched away by an asura. Taken deep into the netherworld, the boy grows up to be something…