July fiction reads: From Indian stories set in the eighth century to a present-day fictional city

Ela’s Unfinished Business, Gayatri

On the surface, Beri Shola appears to be a quiet, charming hill town dotted with boarding schools and tourist traps. Like many such remnants of the colonial Raj across India, it is steeped in history and eccentric traditions. Its locals are a hodgepodge from across the country that Beri Shola accepts as its own.

Piu, a 40-something therapist with a penchant for magazine quizzes, has left her old life behind to set up practice here. Sure, business isn’t booming, but she has a variety of patients and a complicated love life that keep her suitably busy. Then, a week before the much-anticipated annual flower show, beautiful and well-connected Rose is murdered and a new patient, Ela, stumbles into Piu’s office, certain that she’s murdered someone. And life in Beri Shola begins to unravel.

Sharvay, Mansi

It is the eighth century in South India during the rule of the Rashtrakutas. Indian philosophy is at its zenith, Ayurvedic knowledge is being compiled and the new Prakrit languages are being developed to read and write new texts. The heroine, Sharvay, is born into this world with many disadvantages. She is an orphan, the daughter of a dasi, a mixed-caste person of low social standing, bonded to the royal princess of Kavipura as a spittoon holder. Despite all this, she is determined to devote herself to a life of learning and becoming a philosopher. Can Sharvay overcome the socially imposed limits of caste and gender to access Sanskrit and philosophy? If she does succeed, will her teachings be validated by the world?

Feeling Kerala, An Anthology of Contemporary Malayalam Stories, translated from the Malayalam by J Devika

Feeling Kerala is a selection of short stories of Malayalam stories that provide a tour into the heart and soul of contemporary Kerala. This collection encapsulates the varied landscapes of Kerala: the highlands, the coastal areas and the growing urban centres. They move in and out of homes and take the readers into older spaces – convents and panchayats – and the new spaces of the capital – airports and tourist resorts – as well as the world of criminals.

The Dream Builders, Oindrila Mukherjee

The Dream Builders is the story of one summer in a fictional city in India, told from the point of view of ten different characters and bookended by Maneka, a Creative Writing professor in the United States who returns to the country after six years. In her absence, India has changed drastically. Maneka finds herself in the beguiling, new, Americanised city of Hrishipur, nicknamed Millennium City and known for its upscale malls, headquarters of global corporations, and booming real estate developments. What she doesn’t realise, however, is that in Hrishipur, nothing is as it appears.

There is also the immaculately groomed Ramona, her ambitious husband, their moonlighting chauffeur, a facialist at a posh spa, an entrepreneurial single mother, Maneka’s aging father, his young live-in maid, an irreverent photographer, and a crippled electrician. All summer, as the temperature soars to record highs, the longings and resentments of the people of Hrishipur simmer until they come to a boil, culminating in a tragedy no one saw coming.

The East Indian, Brinda Charry

Meet Tony – compassionate and insatiably curious, with a unique perspective on every scene he encounters. Kidnapped and transported to the New World after traveling from the coast of India to the teeming streets of London, young Tony finds himself indentured on a Virginia tobacco plantation. Alone and afraid, Tony longs for home, and envisions a life after servitude full of adventure and learning. His dream: to become a physician’s assistant, an expert on roots and herbs, a dispenser of healing compounds.

The Greatest Indian Stories Ever Told, edited by Arunava Sinha

The Greatest Indian Stories Ever Told is a selection of short fiction written by Indian writers since the genre came into being in the country in the late 19th century. Including early masters of the form, contemporary stars, as well as writers who came of age in the 21st century, this anthology takes in its sweep stories from the various regions, languages, and literatures of India.

Disclosure: Arunava Sinha is the editor of the Books and Ideas section of Scroll.