Novels Set in India

Explore captivating novels set in India, from timeless classics to contemporary fiction. Discover the best Indian books that vividly portray the country's rich culture, history, and diverse landscapes.

The Siege of Krishnapur Cover
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The Siege of Krishnapur

by J.G. Farrell

Winner of the Booker Prize. An insightful and thrilling novel about the British Empire in India during the Great Mutiny of 1857, as seen through the eyes of a young, love-struck idealist. India, 1857—the year of the Great Mutiny, when Muslim soldiers turned in bloody rebellion on their British overlords. This time of convulsion is the subject of J. G. Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur, widely considered one of the finest British novels of the last fifty years. Farrell’s story is set in an isolated Victorian outpost on the subcontinent. Rumors of strife filter in from afar, and yet the members of the colonial community remain confident of their military and, above all, moral superiority. But when they find themselves under actual siege, the true character of their dominion—at once brutal, blundering, and wistful—is soon revealed. The Siege of Krishnapur is a companion to Troubles, about the Easter 1916 rebellion in Ireland, and The Singapore Grip, which takes place just before World War II, as the sun begins to set upon the British Empire. Together these three novels offer an unequaled picture of the follies of empire.
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ID: 039396650X
(Type: books)
Flashman in the Great Game Cover
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Flashman in the Great Game

by George MacDonald Fraser

“Hilariously funny.”—The New York Times Book Review One of literature's most delightful rakes is back in another tale of rollicking adventure and tantalizing seduction. The plucky Flashman's latest escapades are sure to entertain devotees as well as attract new aficionados.
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ID: 0141186216
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Sharpe's Fortress Cover
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Sharpe's Fortress

 

No summary available.
H. M. S. Surprise (Vol. Book 3) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) Cover
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H. M. S. Surprise (Vol. Book 3) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels)

by Patrick O'Brian

Capt. Aubrey and his friend Maturin sail to the Indian Ocean to save the British merchant fleet from the French.
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ID: 0671646575
(Type: books)
Malgudi Days (Twentieth-Century Classics) Cover
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Malgudi Days (Twentieth-Century Classics)

 

No summary available.
Flashman and the mountain of light Cover
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Flashman and the mountain of light

 

No summary available.
A Passage to India Cover
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A Passage to India

by Edward Morgan Forster

Adela Quested arrives in Chandrapore, prepared to meet and marry a city magistrate who exemplifies the narrow-minded, anti-Indian prejudices of the imperial bureaucracy, but an expedition, led by the charming Dr Aziz, ends in an incident which quickens the pulse of Anglo-Indian mistrust.
Midnight's Children Cover
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Midnight's Children

by Salman Rushdie

The story of Saleem Sinal, born precisely at midnight, August 15, 1947, the moment India became independent. Saleem's life parallels the history of his nation.
The Death of Vishnu Cover
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The Death of Vishnu

by Manil Suri

Suffused with Hindu mythology, this bestselling story of one apartment building becomes a metaphor for the social and religious divisions of contemporary India, and Vishnu's ascent of the staircase parallels the soul's progress through the various stages of existence.
The God of Small Things Cover
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The God of Small Things

by Arundhati Roy

Set against a background of political turbulence in Kerala, this is the story of twins Esthappen and Rahel who try to craft a childhood for themselves amongst the vats of banana jam and heaps of peppercorns in their grandmother's factory.
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ID: 0140185488
(Type: books)
A Fine Balance Cover
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A Fine Balance

 

No summary available.
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ID: 0374113998
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ID: 1400044774
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Cracking India Cover
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Cracking India

by Bapsi Sidhwa

During the 1947 Partition of India, young Lenny Sethi suffers from polio and spends her days with Ayah, her beautiful nanny, who exposes her to the differences among the Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs, but when Ayah is kidnapped, Lenny's world erupts into religious, ethnic, and radical violence. Reprint.
A Suitable Boy Cover
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A Suitable Boy

by Vikram Seth

Vikram Seth's novel is, at its core, a love story: Lata and her mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, are both trying to find -- through love or through exacting maternal appraisal -- a suitable boy for Lata to marry. Set in the early 1950s, in an India newly independent and struggling through a time of crisis, A Suitable Boy takes us into the richly imagined world of four large extended families and spins a compulsively readable tale of their lives and loves. A sweeping panoramic portrait of a complex, multiethnic society in flux, A Suitable Boy remains the story of ordinary people caught up in a web of love and ambition, humor and sadness, prejudice and reconciliation, the most delicate social etiquette and the most appalling violence.
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ID: 1590171799
(Type: books)
Song of the Cuckoo Bird Cover
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Song of the Cuckoo Bird

by Amulya Malladi

From the author of "Serving Crazy with Curry" comes an ambitious, moving tale of one woman's search for a meaningful life in post-independence India.
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ID: 0140183957
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ID: 1571310509
(Type: books)
The Splendor of Silence Cover
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The Splendor of Silence

by Indu Sundaresan

Arriving in the west India state of Rudrakot where he hopes to find his idealistic brother, who went missing after joining the local struggle for independence from the British, wounded World War II army captain Sam Hawthorne finds his search complicated by his love for the daughter of a political agent. By the author of A Feast of Roses. 35,000 first printing.