Popular Indian author Kiran Manral shares her top 5 reads of 2021

Great writers are also avid readers. And what's better than getting good book recommendations from popular authors, who inspire us to read more? So, we asked popular Indian author Kiran Manral to share her top five reads of 2021 with us. Here's what she said:

Photo: Kiram Manral/ Twitter

Translated from the Hindi language (titled 'Vaidhanik Galp') to English by Bharatbhooshan Tiwari, Chandan Pandey's 'Legal Fiction' was released in 2021. This thriller explores truth(s) in present-day India. "An unsettling noir tale of our times, this brilliantly written book speaks of the socio-cultural dystopia slowly corroding us, with the lens firmly in small-town India," Kiran Manral told us.

Photo: Harper Perennial India

Commenting on the book, Manral said, "An expansive and ambitious canvas, 'Lahore' is the run-up to the partition of India and the trauma of Batwara told from different perspectives, those of the men who were at the vanguard of the Independence of India, our political leaders and Mountbatten as well as the common everyday man in Lahore for whom life would never be the same again." Released in September 2021, 'Lahore' is the first book in the Partition Trilogy.

Photo: HarperCollins India

Popular Indian author Preeti Shenoy's new book 'The Magic Mindset' is a self-help book on how to find one's happy place-- be it personal life, work or relationships. "Simple and effective, Preeti Shenoy's book is a dose of practical positivity at a time when the world seems to be descending into a sense of helplessness," Manral told us.

Photo: HarperCollins India

Author Koral Dasgupta's 2021 novel 'Kunti' is the second book in her Sati series, wherein she explores the lives of Indian mythology's Panch Kanyas in modern context with a feminist lense. "The second in her Sati series, Koral is doing some seminal work here, by rewriting the narratives of our women in mythology, giving them an entire new story all their own, and not as peripheral characters to the male centric narratives," Manral said.

Photo: Pan

"Roy is amongst my favourite authors, and she's created a compelling narrative as always that gets you invested in the lives of the characters with all their struggles, weaving it with a socio-political context that makes the story immediate," said Kiran Manral.

In 'The Earthspinner', award-winning author Anuradha Roy 'reflects the many ways in which the East encounters the West. The book breathes new life into ancient myths, giving allegorical shape to the war of fanaticism against reason and the imagination. It is an intricate, wrenching novel about the changed ways of loving and living in the modern world,' reads the book's blurb.

Photo: Hachette India

"I've been re-reading the entire series, book by book, through this year. It's given me laughs, comfort and solace. And of course, the wonder of Pratchett's phenomenal world building never pales," Manral shared.

Photo: RHUK