Forgotten Book: The Third Eye by Ethel Lina White (1937)

In 2012, Curtis Evans reviewed Ethel Lina White's 1937 novel The Third Eye, very-very favourably (read his review here). As I had liked all the books that I had read of White till then it immediately went on my wish-list. But it is  only now that Project Gutenberg, Australia has made it available (along with …

Forgotten Book: The Last Labyrinth by Arun Joshi

Relationships are often complex, holding the men and women involved in a vortex of emotions. Som Bhaskar, the protagonist of Arun Joshi's prize-winning novel The Last Labyrinth, seems to have it all: a beautiful, sensible wife; two adorable children; education at the world’s finest universities; an industrial empire; millions in the bank; every conceivable luxury…and …

The Night was thick and heavy as Velvet: Knut Hamsun’s Mysteries

When you have a book titled Mysteries, the author is the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, and critics say that the whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Knut Hamsun, than of course, it is going to be on your wishlist.And the beginning does seem to fulfilling your expectations. …

Review: The Stroyteller of Marrakesh by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya

Is Truth something set in stone or something shimmery seen differently in different lights? This is the question that Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya attempts in his novel: The Storyteller of Marrakesh.A young couple - the man an Indian, the woman a westerner - are seen walking round the Jemma on a particular day. Soon afterwards the couple …

Sherlock Holmes Deconstructed: Partha Basu’s The Curious Case of 221B

In my early school-going days, Sherlock Holmes was THE DETECTIVE. My bhuaji's husband (whom as is wont in our family, we called Jijaji) told us enthusiastically about how as a young boy in Quetta, he and some of his schoolmates, who knew English, would narrate the adventures of Holmes to the village elders. So impressed …

His Father’s Thoughts: John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Little Bruno's world changes when he shifts from Berlin to a place called Out-With as his Father has been posted over there. But what exactly his Father does,Bruno has little idea. All he knows is that his father was a man to watch and that the Fury had big things in mind for him and …

Review: Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending

What do you make of the mathematical formula that runs like a2 + v + a1 x s = b?If you are able to decode it than you'll have solved the mystery of the universe. Okay. Okay. Nothing so grandiose; you'll have solved the mystery of Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending. Or would …

Review: Lesser Breeds by Nayantara Sahgal

It happened during a conference. The professor was singing a paean in praise of a novel called Mistaken Identity and I was slowly getting enraged. I had read the novel a couple of years back and had found it no great shakes. In fact, to me, the writer had committed a cardinal sin. Though the …

FFB: The End of Her Honeymoon by Marie Belloc Lowndes

And then Dampier turned and caught her, this time unresisting, yielding joyfully, to his breast. "Nancy?" he murmured thickly. "Nancy? I'm afraid!""Afraid?" she repeated wonderingly."Yes, horribly afraid! Pray, my pure angel, pray that the gods may indulge their cruel sport elsewhere. I haven't always been happy, Nancy."And she clung to him, full of vague, unsubstantial fears. "Don't …

As the War-Clouds Gather: E.P. Oppenheim’s The Double Traitor

The Right Honourable John William Hebblethwaite took the hat from his footman, stepped into his car, and was driven rapidly away. He leaned back among the cushions, more thoughtful than usual. There was a yellow moon in the sky, pale as yet. The streets were a tangled vortex of motorcars and taxies, all filled with …