Here’s Our List of Must-Read Titles during #Lockdown2020

WASH YOUR HANDS!

Okay, since that is now out of the way, there are heaps of fiction books that you can sink your teeth into <only figuratively please!> during the COVID19 lockdown.

Whether it is on your phone, tablet or Kindle, we’ve compiled an extensive list of e-books that will keep you from obsessing about everything else anxiously by escaping into a different world altogether.

What if.. and we’re only suggesting really, you complete your entire TBR for 2020 in 3 weeks? Wouldn’t that be swell – if not, take it nice and slow, stay safe, stay home and READ!

1. The Swap, Shuma Raha

In a world of swinging couples and sexual abandon, how does a couple wade through? Get the e-book.

2. Last Seance – Agatha Christie

For lovers of the supernatural and the macabre comes this collection of ghostly and chilling tales from Agatha Christie. Acknowledged the world over as the undisputed Queen of Crime, in fact she dabbled in her early writing career with mysteries of a more unearthly kind – stories featuring fantastic psychic visions, spectres looming in the shadows, encounters with deities, eerie messages from the Other Side, even a man who switches bodies with a cat…

This haunting compendium gathers together all of Christie’s spookiest and most macabre short stories, some featuring her timeless detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Get the e-book.

3. Cold Truth – Nikhil Pradhan

Pieced together using police reports, detailed interviews, leaked emails, WhatsApp conversations and much more, this extraordinary debut takes you from the bylanes of Delhi and the communist bunkers of Russia to the frozen grounds of Antarctica, following a trail that will leave you questioning what is real and what isn’t. Get the e-book

4. Kama’s Last Sutra – Trisha Das

Budding archaeologist Tara Singh has been excavating the ruins near Khajuraho for two years, hoping to discover a new temple. A story about Tara’s curiosity, her crush and her ‘historical’ journey! Get the e-book.

5. The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters- Balli Kaur Jaswal

The Shergill sisters never needed each other-until they did. Rajni, Jezmeen and Shirina Shergill have never been close but when their mother dies, she has only one request: that they take a pilgrimage across India to carry out her final rites. While an extended family holiday is the last thing they want, each sister has her own reasons to run away from her life. As the miles rack up on their jaunt across India, the secrets of the past and present are sure to spill out. Get the e-book.

6. The Forest of Enchantments – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Ramayana, one of the world’s greatest epics, is also a tragic love story. In this brilliant retelling, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni places Sita at the centre of the novel: this is Sita’s version. While the Ramayana resonates even today, she makes it more relevant than ever, in the underlying questions in the novel: How should women be treated by their loved ones? What are their rights in a relationship? When does a woman need to stand up and say, ‘Enough!’ Get the e-book.

7. The Far Field – Madhuri Vijay

With rare acumen and evocative prose, in The Far Field Madhuri Vijay gives a potent critique of Indian politics and class prejudice through the lens of a guileless outsider, while also offering up a profound meditation on grief, guilt and the limits of compassion. Get the e-book.

8. The New Girl – Daniel Silva

At an exclusive school in Switzerland, mystery surrounds the identity of the beautiful girl who arrives each morning in a motorcade fit for a head of state. She is said to be the daughter of a wealthy international businessman. In truth, her father is Khalid bin Mohammed, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Once celebrated for his daring reforms, he is now reviled for his role in the murder of a dissident journalist. And when his child is brutally kidnapped, he turns to the one man he can trust to find her before it is too late.

Gabriel Allon, the legendary chief of Israeli intelligence, has spent his life fighting terrorists, including the murderous jihadists financed by Saudi Arabia. Prince Khalid has pledged to break the bond between the Kingdom and radical Islam. For that reason alone, Gabriel regards him as a valuable if flawed partner. Together they will become unlikely allies in a deadly secret war for control of the Middle East. Both men have made their share of enemies. And both have everything to lose. Get the e-book.

9. Paper Moon – Rehana Munir

BOOKS. BOMBAY. ROMANCE. A wondrous combination! Get the e-book.

10. Girl in White Cotton – Avni Doshi

Tracing the fragile line between familial devotion and deception, Avni Doshi’s mesmerizing first novel will surprise and unsettle you. Get the e-book.

11. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine – Gali Honeymam

Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live

Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.

Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.

One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.

Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than… fine? Get the e-book.

12. Latitudes of Longing – Shubhangi Swarup

Richly imaginative and irresistible in its storytelling, Latitudes of Longing announces the arrival of an incredible new literary talent. Get the e-book.

13. Dopehri – Pankaj Kapur

Dopehri – legendary film and theatre personality Pankaj Kapur’s first novel – is a wonderfully evocative work of great charm, wry humour and quiet power, a story that readers will fall in love with. Get the e-book.

14. Daura + Bhaunri – Anukrti Updadhyay

Half real and half fable, and redolent with the songs and myths, the beauty and mystery of Rajasthan, Anukrti Upadhyay’s Daura announces the arrival of a powerful new literary talent. Get Bhauri’s e-book.  Get Daura’s e-book.

15. THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON – Meg Waite Clayton

In 1936 the Nazi presence is little more than a nuisance for 15-year old Stephan Neuman, a budding playwright who treats both the streets of Vienna and the city’s intricate underground tunnels as his playground. The Neuman family is Jewish, but seemingly untouchable due to their wealth and influence. Stephan’s best friend and compatriot is the brilliant Zofie-Helene, a Christian whose mother edits a progressive, anti-Nazi newspaper. Life complicates for the two teenagers as the Neuman’s rights are stripped away and Zofie’s mother is arrested by the Gestapo.

In Austria, Truus Wijsmuller has begun to smuggle Jewish children out of the country and into nations that will still receive them with relatively open arms. Her mission becomes even more dangerous when Hitler invades Austria and country after country closes their borders to the mounting number of refugees. The fearless Truus approaches Adolf Eichmann—the man behind the so-called Jewish Problem—and he makes her a cruelly impossible deal: Truus may remove exactly six hundred children, but in just one week’s time, and on the Sabbath. In a race against the clock, Truus miraculously manages to find the six hundred, including Stephan, his young brother Walter, and Zofie-Helene, who board a train toward an uncertain future abroad. Get the e-book.

16. Radiance of a Thousand Suns – Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

The Radiance of a Thousand Suns is a novel about the mythic and the intimate, about stories on tapestry and mobs that recur, about home and love and history and those heartbreaking moments when they all come crashing together. Get the e-book.

17. Moustache – S. Hareesh

Originally published in Malayalam as Meesha, S. Hareesh’s Moustache is a contemporary classic mixing magic, myth and metaphor into a tale of far-reaching resonance. Get the e-book.

18. Postscript – The Sequel to Ps, I Love You – Cecelia Ahern

The long-awaited sequel to the international bestseller PS, I Love You.

The PS, I Love You Club. These are the six words written on a card handed to Holly Kennedy. They’re words that are engraved on her heart – because PS, I Love You is how her husband, Gerry, signed his last letters to her, letters that mark a year she will never forget.

Now, the mysterious club wants something from her. And if Holly can find the courage meet them, she’ll learn what it really means to live life to the full.

Because every love story has one last thing to say… Get the e-book.

19. THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN -Garth Stein

A major motion picture, this heart-warming and inspirational tale follows Enzo, a loyal family dog, tells the story of his human family, how they nearly fell apart, and what he did to bring them back together.

The Art of Racing in the Rain is a testament to a man’s life, given by his dog. But it is also a testament to the dog, himself. Though Enzo cannot speak, he understands everything that happens around him as he bears witness to his master’s problems. His enforced muteness only refines his listening ability, and allows him to understand many of life’s nuances that are lost on most humans. With humour, sharp observation, and a courageous heart, Enzo guides the reader to the bittersweet yet ultimately satisfying conclusion: there are no limitations to what we can achieve, if we truly know where we want to be. Get the e-book.

20. Blue Is Like Blue – Vinod Kumar Shukla

Few works of modern Indian literature come alive in English, and fewer still in the way that these stories do in Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai’s brilliant translation. Get the e-book.

21. THE BINDING- Bridget Collins

Emmett Farmer is a binder’s apprentice. His job is to hand-craft beautiful books and, within each, to capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory.

If you have something you want to forget, or a secret to hide, he can bind it – and you will never have to remember the pain it caused.

In a vault under his mentor’s workshop, row upon row of books – and secrets – are meticulously stored and recorded.

Then one day Emmett makes an astonishing discovery: one of the volumes has his name on it. Get the e-book.