Books for the week

Check out the books of the week...

Nothing Ventured

Jeffrey Archer

Pan Macmillan, 2019, pp 336, Rs 399

Nothing Ventured heralds the start of a brand new series in the style of Jeffrey Archer’s bestselling The Clifton Chronicles: telling the story of the life of William Warwick – as a family man and a detective who will battle throughout his career against a powerful criminal nemesis.

The Shape of Things to come

Markandey Katju

Harper Collins, 2019, pp 288, Rs 699

India is in the throes of transition — from a primarily feudal agrarian society to a modern, industrial one. For the transition to be successful, however, Markandey Katju says that the country needs to rid itself of the ills of the feudal days.

Relentless

Yashwant Sinha

Bloomsbury, 2019, pp 542, Rs 799

From bureaucrat to politician, and from one century to the next, Yashwant Sinha’s incredible journey from modest beginnings to the highest corridors of power is a tribute to a family’s determination and sacrifices, and a young man’s indomitable grit.

Wasted

Ankur Bisen

Pan Macmillan, 2019, pp 584, Rs 699

Urban India generates close to three million trucks of untreated garbage every day. If these were laid end-to-end, one could reach halfway to the moon. This book takes an honest look into India’s perpetual struggle with these issues and suggests measures to overcome them.

Uncharted

Ganesh Nayak

Manipal Universal Press, 2019, pp 268, Rs 700

Ganesh Nayak found his calling in something totally out of the box. He developed an interest in cycling and quit his earlier job to cycle around India. His solo expeditions have taken him to Srinagar, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Nepal, Bihar, the gruelling mountain circuits in the Himalayas, and more.

Ask Again, Yes

Mary Beth Keane

Simon & Schuster, 2019, pp 400, Rs 721

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, rookie cops in the NYPD, live next door to each other outside the city. What happens behind closed doors in both houses — the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the explosive events to come.

Paper Lions

Sohan S Koonar

Speaking Tiger, 2019, pp 462, Rs 599

Told from three distinct points of view, Paper Lions is an epic multi-generational novel about India, set in the years from the advent of the Second World War to the beginning of modern times in the 1960s. War brings opportunities and wealth to some; Independence ushers in great hope for the future; and the nation’s Partition brings along horrors.

A Long Night in Paris

Dov Alfon

Hachette, 2019, pp 432, Rs 499

On the third day of Ramadan, the village wakes to find the severed heads of nine of its sons stacked in banana crates. One of them belonged to one of the most wanted men in Iraq, known to his friends as Ibrahim the Fated. How did this good and humble man earn the enmity of so many?