Coming Out As Dalit by Yashica Dutt Image: Courtesy Yashica Dutt (Facebook) It spans the two decades between The God of Small Things (1997) and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (2017), My Seditious Heart explores themes and settings from both books, as Roy ruminates over her journey as both a writer and a citizen of a world that is rapidly changing, but not necessarily for the better. My Seditious Heart by Arundhati Roy Image: Courtesy PenguinĪ staggering thousand pages long, My Seditious Heart is a collection of non-fiction writing by the controversial journalist, writer, and political activist winner of the Man-Booker award. And so she peppers Sita’s story with the voices of the other forgotten women of Ramayana - Kaikeyi and Manthara, Mandodari and Soorpanakha…all have tales of male entitlement to tell. But what makes Forest of Enchantments stand out is that even as Sita takes centrestage, Divakurni never forgets that no story exists in isolation, and that women weave a complex web of relationships with other women that is only theirs to understand. Devdutt Pattanaik, Amish Tripathi, Namita Gokhale, Samhita Arni, Mallika Sengupta and so many others have done fantastic jobs of exploring the many facets of Sita’s character. It’s not the first time Indian authors have attempted to tell Sita’s story.

After the resounding success of Palace of Illusions, Divakurni asks readers to engage with Sita’s heartbreaking truths, told from her vantage point. Not on Chitra Banerjee Divakurni’s watch. Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Image: Courtesy Harper Collins Indiaįor too long, mythology, much like history, has glorified the men and ignored the women. If you’re ready to take a break from your online streaming subscriptions, here’s the best of new book releases in India that 2019 has to offer, by way of indigenous literature. Given the debacle that the last season of Game of Thrones was in the absence of richly detailed A Song of Ice and Fire books illuminating the path, we can all agree that books trump… well, everything. If there was ever a time to show books some gratitude and respect, it would be now.

Yashica dutt books