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HT Picks; New Reads
This week’s list of interesting reads includes a masterful translation of a book by Mahadevi Verma that looks at animals’ relationships with the author, each other, and other humans, a memoir by Indrani Mukerjea’s surviving daughter, and a thriller about missing tourists in Kasol
A little-known classic
For Mahadevi Varma, her animal companions were her chosen family. This family comes alive in Mahadevi’s lyrical prose, depicting the animals’ relationships with her, each other, and the human inhabitants of her home and her school. Rescued peacocks, squirrels, dogs, rabbits and deer romp through these pages, each an unforgettable individual of many moods. Charming hand-drawn illustrations complement the delightful writing. Together, these portraits reveal an urban modernity permeated by nature.
In this first-ever translation of a little known classic, Ruth Vanita brilliantly captures Mahadevi’s empathetic imagination, sparkling wit, and intense observation of detail. In her introduction, Vanita illuminates Mahadevi’s feminist and literary legacy, her powerful indictment of human cruelty, and how her prose sprang from the fount of her feelings for animals.*
Memoir of an isolated young woman
On the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Vidhie Mukerjea returned home from school, excited to celebrate with friends and family. Only to walk into a house filled with cops. She watched on as her mother was arrested for an unspeakable crime. Four months later, her father was locked up as well.
As Vidhie grappled with her new reality, the media ruthlessly covered the case and dissected her every move. She was portrayed as a devil’s child by society, the press and – ultimately – it was how she began to view herself. |
“Where does an 18-year-old me go from here,” she wondered. “Where does my family go from here?”
Devils’ Daughter is the brutally frank memoir of an isolated rebellious young woman and her journey towards overcoming the blame and shame cast upon her. And how she was able to cultivate a profound appreciation for the beauty this world has to offer – in the face of an ugliness no one should know.*
A thriller set in the hills
Against the backdrop of the Himalayas lies little Kasol, a beautiful but ‘notorious’ hotspot on the Parvati river, dubbed the ‘mini Israel of India’.
The story unfolds with the sudden disappearance of a young Israeli woman, who, ironically, had come to the small hill town to probe the mystery behind other foreigners who have gone missing from the valley. The lead character is an aspiring writer, putting up at a guesthouse in Kasol – because he loves the views from it – only to discover its dark secrets. Seizing on the subject as the perfect setting for a televised story, he undergoes a series of experiences bordering on the supernatural, not a little inspired by the burgeoning culture of artificial drugs in the area.*
*All copy from book flap.
