Custody Manju Kapur Random House India Told with nuance, sympathy and clear-sightedness, the author’s fifth novel confirms her reputation as a chronicler of the modern Indian family. It’s a story of how family-love can turn into a fixation to possess children, body and soul. It’s also a chilling critique of the Indian judicial system. The novel is certainly more than just a social commentary.
	Inside/out New writing from Goa Goa, 1556 Publishers When 29 writers including historians, food and travel writers and photographers contribute essays, short stories, photographs and novel excerpts on Goa, what you get is a heady anthology that’s hard to put down. Wendell Rodrick’s first-person narration of his entry into the fashion world and Amitav Ghosh’s long-term fascination for nautical dictionaries are fun reads.
	Billy Arjan Singh: The Tiger of Dudhwa Shaminder Boparia Harper Collins Publishers The pictorial biography documents the work and experiments of Billy Arjan Singh, a hunter who later turned to wildlife conservation and his focus to save the national animal. For those who don’t know, he is the only person in the world known to have hand-reared a tiger and returned it to the wild. The book is therefore a tribute to Singh and his sensitivity towards tigers.
	The Good Muslims Of Jackson Heights Jaysinh Birjepatil Penguin India A devastating portrait of our divided world, the book is a story of Jackson Heights, New York and its residents, Siraj and Shabnam. Just as they learn to settle post their enforced exile, Siraj is falsely accused of being involved in a terrorist plot to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge, pulling him back into the primitive shadows of 9/11. And the plot thickens.
	Losing My Virginity And Other Dumb Ideas Madhuri Banerjee Penguin India Laugh your wits off with this rollercoaster ride of sorts. It’s the story of an interpreter who after several attempts, gives up on love and, on her 30th birthday, decides to take matters in her hand. Love or no love, she resolves to lose her virginity. Life, however, has other plans! Packed with ideas and ethics, each new day competes with the last one to make her re-evaluate life, and love.
	Mafia Queens Of Mumbai: Stories Of Women From The Ganglands S. Hussain Zaidi with Jane Borges Tranquebar Press Against the backdrop of criminal drama, this collection of stories displays the vivid world of women linked with underworld men. They are the ones who’ve sometimes lead, and often manipulated, gangsters to run their own illegal businesses. The authors brilliantly explore how, in cold blood, these women were able to make their way up in what was certainly a man’s world.

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