Book Tastings

 Little Maryam
By: Hamid Baig
Publisher: Notion Press
Pages: 296; Price: `225
While giving an acceptance speech for his Nobel Prize nomination, Dr Saadiq Haider receives a phone call that changes his life. Abandoning his duties, Saadiq hurriedly boards a flight to India and into his past.

The Conqueror
By: Aditya Iyengar
Publisher: Hachette India
Pages: 272; Price: `350
Kingdoms are built by men. Legacies are built by emperors. It is 1025 AD. The mighty Chola Empire that controls much of ‘Southern Bharatvarsha’ is helmed by Emperor Rajendra Chola I—a man as enigmatic as his kingdom.

The Kaafir’s Love
By: Abhisar Sharma 
Publisher: Rupa
Pages: 257; Price: `295
Two dramatic incidents shake up the tenuous peace in an Old Delhi neighbourhood: a terrorist commits suicide in Jama Masjid and an influential trader is shot near the same spot. As summer comes to boil, age-old antagonisms surface and sharp lines are drawn. 

 Shunya: A Novel
By: Sri M
Publisher: Westland
Pages: 232; Price: `350
He appears out of nowhere in a sleepy little neighbourhood in suburban Kerala. He calls himself Shunya, the zero. Who is he? A lunatic? A dark magician? A fraud? Or an avadhuta, an enlightened soul?