Best Indian Novels you cannot afford to miss

India has produced many highly acclaimed English fiction and novel writers. From novels that have been reprinted several times to Man Booker prize-winners and contemporary accounts of modern-day India. The novels written by the Indian authors are deeply expressive, rich and culturally embedded. Now, let go ahead and check out some of the best Indian novels you’ll love reading.

1. The God of Small Things (by Arundhati Roy)

Arundhati Roy, a Booker prize winner and one among the most celebrated Indian writer. The story revolves around the lives of fraternal twins and their childhood experiences. The novel narrates a poignant tale about love, betrayal and family ties.

2. Shadow Lines (by Amitav Ghosh)

Published in 1988, Shadow lines was written by Amitav Ghosh a Padma Shree Award winning Indian writer. The story revolves around the narrator who is trying to consistently juggle through memories and events from past and present in hopes of finding answers to his life.

3. Fasting, Feasting (by Anita Desai)

Written by Anita Desai, Fasting, Feasting was shortlisted for the Booker Prize award in 1999. The book is about Indian Family system and their belief. It narrates the story of how daughters of Indian families are treated and burdened with many responsibilities and eventually are forced to sacrifice their own aspirations and dreams.

4. A Suitable Boy (by Vikram Seth)

A Suitable Boy is one of the longest Indian novels ever to be published. The story about a mother who is in search of a suitable boy for her daughter’s marriage. The novel constantly engages with events that shaped the nation building processes after independence and partition of India.

5. Train to Pakistan (by Khushwant Singh)

Train to Pakistan is written by one of India’s most colorful writers The story revolves around a Muslim-Sikh village at the Indo-Pak border unaffected by the Partition. Amidst this, it’s also a story of a Sikh boy and Muslim girl who fell in love and whose love transcends all the religion hate.

6. Cutting For Stone (by Abraham Verghese)

Cutting for Stone is a novel written by Ethiopian-born medical doctor and author Abraham Verghese. The story about an twins who are orphaned by their mom’s death and forsaken by their father. A major message of the book is that a physician needs to show empathy toward a patient.

7. The Immortals (by Amit Chaudhary)

This novel sets Bombay in the 1980s, is about two families whose fortunes are connected by music. As the novel unfolds, we see how their two families come to challenge and change each other, and how student and teacher slowly mesh their differing visions of the world, and what place music holds in it.

8. An Obedient Father (By Akhil Sharma)

An Obedient Father is a novel by Akhil Sharma, which received the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award in 2001. The story revolves around a corrupt official and his daughter and granddaughter in a New Delhi slum. This is a book about the consequences.

9. Twilight In Delhi (by Ahmed Ali)

Twilight in Delhi is Ahmed Ali’s first novel, addressing India’s changing social, political, and cultural climate following colonialism. The novel is shot through with rich symbolic imagery. The novel starts at dawn, with “twilight” referring to the rise of the sun as well as the rise of the protagonist Mir Nihal’s living standards. By contrast, descriptions of twilight at evening in the closing sentences portray the overall downfall and destruction of not only the family of Mir Nihal but also the Mughal Empire altogether.

10. The Hungry Tide (by Amitav Ghosh)

Written by Amitav Ghosh, this novel has won Hutch Crossword Book Award for fiction in 2004. The story of three people from different worlds who are in search of a rare, endangered river dolphin. Already an international success, The Hungry Tide is a prophetic novel of remarkable insight, beauty, and humanity.

11 The Death Of Vishnu (by Manil Suri)

The Death of Vishnu (2001) is a novel by Indian-American writer Manil Suri. The book is about the spiritual journey of a dying man named Vishnu living on a landing of a Bombay apartment building, as well as the lives of the residents living in the building.

12. Ravan & Eddie (by Kiran Nagarkar)

This novel is about two boys, Ravan and Eddie who are the unlikeliest of companions. The story revloves around both of their lives and their adventure, whether you like it or not. As we watch the two unlikely heroes of Kiran Nagarkar’s acclaimed novel you are compelled to sit up and take notice.

Originally published at hobbykeeda.blogspot.com.