Seven recently published novels by Indians (and one by a Bangladeshi) to read in March

Sivakami’s Vow: Paranjyothi’s Journey, Kalki, translated from the Tamil by Nandini Vijayaraghavan

A young man trudges from a tiny Chola village to Kanchi, the great city of art and learning, hoping to discover his destiny. A bikshu wanders around the Pallava empire, befriending lonely souls. Spies lurk in the shadows, and even statues of the Lord Buddha conceal secrets. Emperor Mahendra Pallava, connoisseur beyond compare, rules with compassion and justice, while his son, Kumara Chakravarthy Narasimhar, falls deeply in love with the greatest dancer of the empire, Sivakami. Somewhere in the distance can be heard the drums of war. The fearsome Chalukyas are planning an invasion: their war elephants, horses and infantry sweep towards the Pallava empire. Emperor Pulikesi eyes Kanchi as the crowning glory to his martial achievements.

Paranjyothi’s Journey, the first in the four-volume Sivakami’s Vow series, is a riveting tale of war, betrayal, secret passages, guarded forts, passions, and a Pallava emperor who will do anything to save his kingdom.

The Inheritors, Nadeem Zaman

Nisar Chowdhury returns to Dhaka, the city of his forefathers, from Chicago, feeling estranged to both. The city that awaits him, however, is not the one that lives in his memory. It is a place now replete with its own share of tales from new islands of splendour. Nisar must come to terms with his father’s decision to sell their patrimony – remnants of their link to this country. He meets people who have morphed along with the city, while unravelling the ways of Dhaka’s new world – wading through a haze of deceit, guile, friendship and love.

The Forsaken Wilderness, Vivaan Shah

Ranibaug – a treacherous peak situated at the bridge between the lesser and greater Himalayas that has never been scaled by a mountaineering party; comparable in mystery to K2, Nanga Parbat, and Mount Kailash. Only the bare feet of sadhus and ascetics are said to have trod upon its rocks. A topographical survey team had embarked on a journey in the spring of 1971, never to return.

Now, a civil engineer decides against his better judgement to accompany Professor Chaturvedi, a mountaineer of some repute, and Shera, a Garhwali ex-guide, on this daunting trek that has been prescribed to them by a local astrologer as an act of pilgrimage to atone for their ongoing spiritual deterioration. They intend also to mark a rock at the summit where a temple is to be built.

The engineer’s own reasons for journeying up the mountain however are only partly religious. It is the prospect of venturing towards uncharted territory that propels him on this harrowing climb up non-navigable pathways, through impenetrable forests, past sights, sensations and phenomena that are entirely inexplicable, and that confound their onward ascent; their descent into madness slowly precipitated by the increase in altitude.

Forging ahead through abominable weather and starvation, they arrive at the discovery that a temple of immeasurable antiquity has already been built upon the mountain top or at least what appears to be a temple, it is closer in form though to an inexplicable archaeological ruin that does not appear to have been constructed by anything remotely resembling the hand of human civilisation possessing an architectural ingenuity far surpassing human intelligence.

The Pledge: Adventures to Sada, Madhulika Liddle and Kannan Iyer

In an imaginary time, in the mythical, scenic but deeply troubled land of Mandala, the ailing old magician Jaadum expresses his dying wish: to have his son Raibhu immerse his and his wife Asi’s last remains in the Sada river. But under that simple human wish lies buried the secret at the heart of the Mandala purana – the legend of the Mandalan civilisation. A powerful secret that reveals itself in one intriguing layer after another to Raibhu and his companions: his best friend Afhash and the mysterious, strikingly beautiful Inosa. Together they must protect this purana at all costs from the evil warlord Umur Naash. As Raibhu, Afhash and Inosa embark on a journey through perilous terrain to fulfil Jaadum’s wish, they will be tested to their limits. The future of Mandala lies in the hands of Raibhu and his companions.

Moms in the Wild, Nidhi Raichand

Sneha Talwar is an idealistic young reporter on an assignment to profile Natasha Babani, environmental activist and multi-talented mommy-influencer, who has spent the last year cleaning up a polluted lake. But before she can get started, Natasha’s body is found floating in that very lake. As Sneha swiftly changes gear and begins to dig around for information on Natasha, she unearths a whole ‘mommy universe’ that thrives on its own rules, rivalries and intrigues.

Moms in the Wild is a dark, funny and razor sharp story about the competitive world of social media, of first jobs and fallen idols, friendships, current day journalism and the roller coaster that is motherhood.

Batshit, Kritika Kapoor

Twenty-something Pia Bhandari has the ideal life – or so it seems. As long as she puts on a happy face, no one is any the wiser about the sinister voices in her head. Not her boyfriend Raghav, or her soon-to-be-married younger sister Khushi, her long-time psychiatrist Dr Agarwal, her father Ajit or even her mother Neeta, who is otherwise obsessed with controlling her daughter’s life.

But Pia’s demons follow her wherever she goes. One yellow-eyed demon in particular. Feral and bloodthirsty, it threatens to rip through Pia’s life, leaving a murderous trail in its wake. Hurtling between the opulent kothis of GK-2 and the plush bungalows of Sainik Farms, this twisted tale about a Delhi girl’s fight against the dark forces is about to get batshit.

Life Switch, Madhuri Banerjee

A staid housewife, Nandita, swaps her life with Annie, her doppelgänger. She switches her phone, her home, her husband and her boring family life for the glamorous corporate life that Annie leads in an advertising agency.

Annie looks at this as a social experiment for a new ad campaign she is creating. She hopes that this will help her beat her rival and put her right at the top of the company. Nandita believes this will make her husband fall in love with her.

Their lives begin to get horribly complicated when secrets are revealed. In their bid to have everything, they’ve set the ball rolling on something that has now pitched them against each other.

The question is, who will win? For whom will all the pieces of the puzzle come together?