Tag Archives: Young Adults – Fiction

There are twists and turns, and the final destination back to India across the border seems close yet far away, fraught with danger at every step. The author shows how nothing is black and white, and even a hidebound Pakistani intelligence agent lets his humanity peep through his tough exterior. To say more would be a spoiler.

For this realization to dawn she is helped by a small time ‘newbie’ influencer Sameer. They both make mistakes and come out better human beings, thanks to unexpectedly meeting each other.

There are several authentic dialogues between characters that feel natural. It is a book of approximately 220 pages which makes for a quick and enjoyable read. The story is divided into chapters which helps in connecting all the ongoing processes in the story. Some illustrations could be added in every chapter for connectivity. Overall, it is a thought-provoking and inspiring novel.

When Leela’s meshtru, her teacher at school, tells them about how powerful Gandhiji’s speeches are, she can’t help but wonder, how powerful his voice be. Thus starts the journey of interaction with her community on the freedom struggle tidbits (psst– it is worth reading to find how she describes MK Gandhi’s voice)

The Henna Start-Up is the coming-of-age story of a girl from a conservative family who struggles, makes mistakes and has to overcome many threats and challenges for the simple freedom to study what she wants and to have the friends she likes. It is also a romance in which a young adult has to face her feelings for someone whom she both likes and distrusts. The book, though, is not just about Abir; it also is about her family and friends,

The city’s landscape changes before our eyes. There are tanks on the roads, blockades everywhere, and soon, our narrator is given a machine gun to hold by a kindly neighbour, which is obviously not appreciated by her mother. The narrator, her mother and brother watch Molotov cocktails being flung about on the streets and classrooms are now slowly getting bereft of classmates.

When Akran learns that the kidnapped girls–yes, multiple girls–are being used as part of a ritual to bring back a great evil into the world, he has very little time to stop it from happening and yet he must try his best, because the powerful person on the other side has kidnapped Shukra and is using him for nefarious means.

There are a few lines and phrases that especially stood out to me: the idea of setting up a momo stand— ‘Yes!   That is something that is quite popular right now and which corporate slave hasn’t wondered the same while having street food? I wonder if I would be happier and better off owning a street stall rather than working a nine-to-five, LOL’

Muskaan has been working for over two decades with poor and marginalized communities of Bhopal. Gaanth brings together the narratives of three women who were little girls during the riots of 1992, which took place after the destruction of Babri Masjid. The stories are based on the authors’

A bustling urban basti greets on the first page. Intricately detailed roofs and fixtures, water tanks and antennas, herons perched on the pillars, the mosque top with loudspeakers and orange flying festoons leave one transfixed…

Under the Bakul Tree is a heartwarming coming-of-age tale. It celebrates friendship, hope and determination as it unravels the devastating effects of poverty and of an education system that has failed the students who are at the lowest rung of the social order.

he Saveur coffee shop becomes another milestone in this bildungsroman novella, as Takako makes new friends and literally wakes up to smell the coffee and is soon ready to face the world again. Her days at the Morisaki Bookshop become what Satoru had hoped

The email communication begins with the calf escaping from the farm and declaring:‘Sinister things are happening here on the farm, but nobody talks about them. I dare not stay here any longer. Dare not wait and see what is going to happen to me. I don’t want to disappear suddenly. Love from me