By the Book

NEW TRANSLATIONS OF UNPUTDOWNABLE FICTION

VALLI by Sheela Tomy; translated by Jayasree Kalathil HARPER PERENNIAL

`699; 420 pages

In a diary that Susan writes for her daughter Tessa, she tells the story of how her parents had once eloped. More crucially, though, she narrates the story of Kerala’s Wayanad, a land of magic and rebellion.

BREAKING FREE by Vaasanthi; translated by N. Kalyan Raman

HARPER PERENNIAL

`399; 352 pages Though Kasturi and Lakshmi are both born into the devadasi clan, they respond to their fate rather differently. In this newly translated Tamil masterpiece, we see one submit to duty and the other resist.

THE MONKEY’S WOUND AND OTHER STORIES by Hajra Masroor; translated by Tahira Naqvi

PENGUIN MODERN CLASSICS

`599; 340 pages

Translated from Sab Afsanay

Meray, Hajra Masroor’s seminal collection of Urdu short stories, we find in the 16 tales of this book characters and plots that seem brutal and delightful in equal measure.