May Indian fiction: Five novels and a short story collection to beat the heat

All information sourced from publishers.

The Great Kanchana Circus, Vishwas Patil, translated from the Marathi by Nadeem Khan

It is the early 1940s. India is struggling to break free of British rule, and the Second World War is at its peak. The famed Great Kanchana International Circus is touring Burma when Japanese fighter planes bomb Rangoon and Mandalay, razing the British administrative and military installations to the ground and killing the local population in hundreds of thousands.

As their foot soldiers approach to take occupation, Kanchana Sarang Shine, proprietor of the circus company, risks her life and limb to ensure a safe passage back to India for her 300-strong troupe, walking thousands of kilometres through treacherous mountains and jungles.

Sweeping in scope and vivid in its portrayal of war and the world of circuses, this historical novel is based on true events at a time when 40 forty circus companies were being run by women in western and southern India.

Slow Burn, Amal Singh

Rishi Tripathi has failed as an actor. When an important audition doesn’t go as planned, rage consumes him and he punches a mirror. But instead of getting hurt, he slips right through and arrives in the Mumbai of his dreams.

In this inverted city, Rishi is a superstar, a...

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