Seahorse by Janice Pariat

Blurb (from the jacket):

Nem is a student of English literature at Delhi University. He drifts between classes, weed-hazy parties, and the amorous complexities of campus life, until a chance encounter with an art historian steers him into a world of pleasure and artistic discovery. Nem’s life is irrevocably transformed. One day, without warning, his mentor disappears.

In the years that follow, Nem cocoons himself in South Delhi, writing for a chic cultural journal. When he is awarded a fellowship to London, a cryptic note plunges him into a search for the art historian—a search which turns into a reckoning with his past. 

Retelling the myth of Poseidon and his youthful male devotee Pelops, Seahorse transforms a simple coming-of-age story into an epic drama of loss, love, and healing.

The Sicilian by Mario Puzo (Mario Puzo's Mafia)

Blurb (from GoodReads):

Michael Corleone's exile in Sicily is ending, but on the instructions of his father, The Godfather, he must bring back to him the young man known as Salvatore Giuliano - if he can find him. At sea amid the treacheries of a brutal and unfamiliar land, Michael must find a way through the labyrinthine deceits that surround him, while Giuliano prepares himself for a final confrontation with Don Croce, Capo di Capi of the Sicilian Mafia. A novel of explosive suspense, heroic action - and evil on an epic scale. In the hands of Mario Puzo's brilliantly sinister talent, the reader comes to know again the terrible magic of the Mafia.

Secrets by Ruskin Bond

Blurb (from the jacket):

Yes, there was a skeleton in the cupboard, and although I never saw it, I played a small part in the events that followed its discovery . . . 

This brilliant new collection of stories by one of India s best-loved storytellers richly evokes Dehradun of the 1940s, with its quaint cinema halls and crumbling villas, its modest chaat-shops and ubiquitous tongas. But, as young Ruskin the narrator in these interconnected tales soon discovers, not all is as it seems in this sleepy town. Behind the tranquil facade, Dehra is home to a cast of colourful characters: from plucky old women to possible murderers. 

The Canal is a joyful tribute to adolescent mischief and adult resolve, in which a group of roguish boys must face the consequences of antagonizing the much-feared Miss Gamla. Over the Wall celebrates the resilience and hard-won dignity of a man ravaged by leprosy as he struggles to come to terms with his malady. The dashing young army captain in At Green s Hotel might be the perfect gentleman or a murderer. And in The Skeleton in the Cupboard , an old scandal is revived following a chance discovery, leading to wholly unexpected results.

By turns charming and poignant, witty and exhilarating, Secrets is vintage Bond.

Dvarca by Madhav Mathur (Dvarca Trilogy #1)

Blurb (from the jacket):

ONE NATION | ONE RELIGION | ONE WAY OF LIFE 

Welcome to a land called Dvarca. 

At the turn of the 22nd century, the world is a mess of warring factions (surprise!). The powers-that-be have fought insanity with an equal and opposite insanity. India has been remodelled under a new bicolour flag, and a State religion called Navmarg. Anyone who does not belong, is a threat. 

Madhav Mathur's Dvarca is a dark and humorous satire that follows the life of an ordinary family, struggling to get by, in this totalitarian regime. Gandharva, is a patriotic and pious low-level bureaucrat at the Ministry of Finance and Salvation, working hard on his status and overdue promotion. His dutiful and curious wife, Jyoti, works at Dvarca Mills and witnesses a ghastly act of terror, leading to perilous flirtations with dissent. Their two little children, Nakul and Mira, are model students in their predestined streams, indoctrinated and well on their way to becoming faithful and productive citizens. 

The State religion and cutting-edge science combine to create new ways to make citizens safe, and to hound and hunt those who do not conform. Everything is 'perfect' in this controlled and policed system, until one fateful night, a man happens to break routine . . . 

Is It Maya? by Saikat Baksi

Blurb (from the cover):

Maya Mukhija is charming, intelligent and enigmatic.She has all the riches and power of the world. Maya loves to overpower men. She is the arm-candy wife of an ageing media mogul. Maya is not a loser. 

But one ne morning, Mumbai police knocks the door of her posh apartment and handcuffs her. "You killed Veena, your daughter," the Police Commissioner declares. 

"Veena was my sister, not daughter. And I wished her dead. But I never killed her," Maya Mukhija replies. 

The hunt begins through the shadowy yesterdays of Maya Mukhija. 

Love, treachery and a web of lies peel off the dark truth one by one. 

Who killed Veena? ls it Maya?"

Em and The Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto

Blurb (from the GoodReads):

'A beautiful book, a child's-eye view of madness, full of love, pain, and, unaccountably, much wild comedy' Salman Rushdie

In a tiny flat in Bombay Imelda Mendes - Em to her children - holds her family in thrall with her flamboyance, her manic affection and her cruel candour. Her husband - to whom she was once 'Buttercup' - and her two children must bear her 'microweathers', her swings from laugh-out-loud joy to dark malevolence.

Brilliantly comic and almost unbearably moving, Jerry Pinto's portrait of a woman finding it difficult to stay sane - and what happens to those who cannot help but love her - is one of the most powerful and original fiction debuts of recent years.