What are you reading? Five new books not to miss
(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated May 26, 2025)SECRETS AND SHADOWS (Books pictured above)SPIES, LIES AND ALLIES | By Kavitha Rao | WESTLAND | Priced at Rs 499| 272 pages (left)THE CHIEF MINISTER AND THE SPY | By A.S. Dulat | JUGGERNAUT |Priced at Rs 799 | 312 pages (right)Intrigue and espionage seem to be the flavour of the season. Kavitha Rao's Spies, Lies and Allies is the extraordinary tale of two Indian revolutionaries—Virendranath Chattopadhyaya a.k.a. Chatto (Sarojini Naidu's brother) and M.N. Roy, who founded the Tashkent group of the Communist Party of India—as they dodge the British secret service in their journey through Europe. The author of the much-lauded Lady Doctors has pulled off another coup with this dual biography which has no dearth of interesting encounters. And making waves since its launch is former RAW chief A.S Dulat's book which sheds light on his unlikely alliance with then J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah through truly challenging times.advertisementEMBRACING THE FALL
ON FAILING | Edited by Amit Chaudhuri | WESTLAND |Priced at Rs 399| 124 pages
The 'Literary Activism' series—an initiative of the Centre for the Creative and the Critical at Ashoka University and Westland Books—takes on the issue of the creative process's 'failure' and, curiously, its necessity. There are meditative essays by Ranajit Das, Sunetra Gupta, Sumana Roy and Anurag Kashyap, among others, ably curated by series editor Amit Chaudhuri, who also writes an essay.RECLAIMING THE PAST
THE LOST HEER | By Harleen Singh | PENGUIN VIKING | Priced at Rs 1,299 | 544 pages
advertisementMasculinity, this book argues, was a key pillar of Punjabi identity in colonial times. The Lost Heer goes beyond male-centric narratives to reclaim the contributions of women through the stories of Aas Kaur, Mai Fatto and Bibi Sahib Kaur in the early colonial period to latter-day figures like Manmohini Zutshi, Raghbir Kaur and others.THE MISSIONARY POSITION
WANDERERS, ADVENTURERS, MISSIONARIES | By Anuradha Kumar| SPEAKING TIGER | Priced at Rs 599 | 384 pages
Americans arrived on our shores in the 1700s. This fascinating book unearths a bevy of 'early American' characters, including 'Ice King' Frederic Tudor, who made a fortune shipping ice from Boston to Calcutta; Samuel Evans Stokes, who pioneered apple cultivation in Himachal; and the beloved Alters of Mussoorie.Subscribe to India Today Magazine
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