The Lowland

More than 100 years after Edward Lear’s poem The Owl And The Pussycat was written, Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson takes a shot at a sequel.

As with many of the British former children’s laureate’s previous books, The Further Adventures Of The Owl And The Pussy-cat But as they grow older, their lives begin to take different directions. Subhash moves to the US to do a PhD and Udayan becomes drawn to the radical political Naxalite movement ravagingWest Bengal. The repercussions of Udayan’s actions have devastating consequences and transform the futures of his wife, his brother and their parents.

The personal stories are threaded skilfully into the historical backdrop. The Lowland, which has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for 2013, raises thoughtprovoking questions about family commitments, personal fulfilment and the price of idealism.

takes us to the suburban streets of 1960s Calcutta inWest Bengal, at a time when India is getting to grips with aspirations of wealth and modern lifestyles amid the realities of corruption and class struggle.

Brothers Subhash and Udayan lead relatively carefree lives as middle-class Bengali boys, playing by the hyacinth-strewn ponds. DCI Anna Travis is one of those fictional characters who has already made the transition from the written page to the small screen. So when Lynda La Plante, regarded as Britain’s First Lady of the crime thriller, puts DCI Travis on the case, there are sure to be fireworks.

This latest battle for the glamorous detective is a tale that crosses the Atlantic, from theWest Indies to London and to the US, pitting her wits against one of the most cunning criminals she has ever come up against.

As well as battling to unravel the main crime, Travis also has to