Dance of the Spirits
By Sanjai Velayudhan
Pages: 282
Dressed in ornate headgears and colourful intricate make-up, the Theyyam performers take centre-stage in the sleepy district of Kannur in Kerala. As the performers leap in the air and perform an aggressive dance, they enter a state of trance and turn into ‘gods’. The onlookers look transfixed. It is an experience so fantastic that Maria could not have asked for more. On a trip to India to do a thesis on Theyyam, a ritual form of spirit worship, the research scholar from the United States forges an intimate bond with Krish, who acts as her local guide.Together, they explore the mystic world of spirits, serpent-gods and forbidden secrets. But unknown to them, a grand plan is being executed in which they are nothing but mere pawns. As curiosity gets the better of her, Maria unfortunately must pay the price.
French Lover
ByTaslima Nasrin
Pages: 300
French Lover is the story of Nilanjana, a young Bengali woman from Kolkata who moves to Paris after getting married to Kishanlal, a restaurant owner. Kishanlal’s luxurious apartment seems to be a gilded cage for Nilanjana, and she feels stifled within its friendless confines. Her marriage, where she functions as little more than a housekeeper and sex object, is far from fulfilling and she desperately looks for a way out of the boredom and depression. It is at this point that she meets Benoir Dupont, a blond, blue-eyed handsome Frenchman. Benoir introduces Nilanjana to the streets, cafes and art galleries of Paris. In her passionate, sexually liberating relationship with Benoir, she begins to have an inkling of her own desires. The relationship ends when Nilanjana realises that Benoir’s first priority is himself but her road to self-dicovery has only just begun.
Keepers of the Kalachakra
By Ashwin Sanghi
Pages: 420
The newest addition to the long list of bestsellers by Ashwin Sanghi , weaves together mysticism, science and religious iconography to bring a story that seems larger than life. A random selection of heads of state are murdered by unnamed killers who work with the clinical efficiency of butchers. Except that they leave no trace of their methods. Sanghi describes a world of people at war with one another—a boomeranging conflict of faiths that results in acts of such slow and planned human cruelty that they defy human imagination. Caught in the midst of this madness is Vijay Sundaram, a geek scientist who is dimly aware that the wider sky outside his laboratory is stretched taut and close to being torn apart by forces that he simply wants nothing to do with.
Origin: Number 5 of the Robert Langdon Series
By Dan Brown
Pages: 544
Released in October 2017, this book remains in the best-seller list because of its strong fan base. This book finds Robert Langdon at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain witnessing a discovery that will send him on a chase of a lifetime. Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend the unveiling of a discovery that “will change the face of science forever”. The evening’s host is his friend and former student, Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old tech magnate whose inventions and audacious predictions have made him a controversial figure around the world. But Langdon and several hundred other guests are left reeling when the orchestrated evening is blown apart before Kirsch’s precious discovery can be revealed. With his life under threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape.