The Best South Asian Books of 2024
It’s never easy to select the best books of the year, since any list is by nature an exercise in exclusion. But we are continuing our end of year selections with some of the best Indian and other South Asian reads from 2024. There were so many stunning books to come out this year, but we’ve picked out a few that are well worth a read.
Swadesh Deepak - A Bouquet of Dead Flowers Partially translated by Jerry Pinto alongside a few others, this collection of the uncompromising Hindi writer’s work is unsettling and profound. Swadesh Deepak was a Hindi writer and literature professor who one day walked out of his home in Ambala, never to return. His disappearance has been a mystery for years, but this retrospective collection of his stories offer a searing critique of society, of bureaucracy, of the usual masculine stereotypes, and much more.
Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari - Chronicle of An Hour and A Half
In the foothills of the Western Ghats, the village of Vaiga is enduring the worst storm it has seen in decades. But another, more insidious storm is brewing, starting as a rumour of an illicit affair. The rumour soon takes on a life of its own, fuelled by feverish WhatsApp messages. In the ensuing chaos, as Vaiga erupts into violence and a mob takes to the street, baying for blood. Tautly written and vividly imagined, Chronicle of an Hour and a Half is an engrossing read.
VV Ganeshananthan - Brotherless Night
Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and one of the finest recent historical novels, Brotherless Night is the story of sixteen-year-old Sashi, who wants to become a doctor. But over a decade, as a vicious civil war tears through her hometown of Jaffna, her dream takes her on a different path thanks to Sri Lanka’s civil war, with her brothers swept up in violent political ideologies and their consequences.
Nusrat Jafri - This Land We Call Home
In 1871, the British enacted the Criminal Tribes Act in India, branding numerous tribes and caste groups as criminals. In This Land We Call Home, Nusrat F. Jafri traces the roots of her nomadic forebears, who belonged to one such tribe, the Bhantus from Rajasthan, through the lens of caste and religious conversions over the last century. This affecting memoir explores religious and multicultural identities and delves into the profound concepts of nation-building and belonging.
Jayant Kaikini - Mithun Number Two
A follow up to the stunning, award-winning collection of Mumbai stories called No Presents Please, Jayant Kaikini’s ‘Mithun Number Two’ is another collection of deft urban snapshots. These are stories tinged with melancholy but lit with hope, capturing moments of transcendence in the midst of anonymity and routine. Young men migrate to Mumbai looking for work or a more exciting life, while others, women and men, young and old, make the journey for different reasons.
Prayaag Akbar - Mother India
The second novel from the author of Leila is a story of two young people in contemporary Delhi. Plodding away to make a decent living despite a middling education, Mayank is employed in a right-wing content creator's dingy studio. Nisha, recently moved to the city from her small town in the hills, works as a salesgirl for expensive Japanese chocolate in an upscale mall. When their paths cross thanks to a social media furore, things escalate in a novel that offers a concise account of young urban India.
Neha Dixit - The Many Lives of Syeda X
Award-winning journalist Neha Dixit blends years of reportage and thought into the story of Syeda X, a faceless Indian woman whose life has been lived under constant corrosive tension. From Banaras to Delhi, following Syeda’s fate as a poor migrant, this book is a portal to a harsh world hidden away from elite India. It is the empathetically delivered story of untold millions that is as gripping as any fiction.
Atharva Pandit - Hurda
Based on a real-life incident, this novel takes a surgical knife to contemporary India’s pervasive misogyny. The disappearance of three sisters on Valentine’s Day becomes the trigger point for a Mumbai journalist’s investigation years later. Told from multiple perspectives and raising as many questions as it offers answers, Hurda is a brilliant debut from a voice worth keeping an eye on.