Desi News — Celebrating our 28th well-read year!

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BOOKWORM

PICKING UP THE PIECES

Fragments Against My Ruin by Farrukh Dhondy, Verso, $39.95. Farrukh Dhondy explores his life to salvage precious moments against the inevitable decay of age. The result is a fascinating social and historical document of the late twentieth century, addressing politics, culture, friendship, and the determination to break down boundaries.

It is an autobiography packed with compelling anecdotes, such as an insightful take on Jeffrey Archer's conviction, as well as portraits of Richard Attenborough, Arundhati Roy, V. S. Naipaul, Charles Sobhraj, and many others.

Here, for instance, is how Dhondy’s chance encounter with Prince Charles on the sets of the Hindi film Mangal Pandey in Mumbai transpired:

After the clapperboard business, Charles was conducted down a row of the cast and crew of the film, accompanied by two smart suited equerries who walked behind him. As the writer, I was somewhere down the line. The chief equerry had passed down the line and instructed us not to venture any questions to Charles but to speak only when spoken to.

When Charles came face to face with me, the producer of the film, Bobby Bedi, introduced me by name, and said I was the writer of the film and a British citizen.

“Ah, from whereabouts?'” Charles asked and I told him. “So, how long did it take you to write the screenplay?” Two weeks for the first draft, one year for the second, I said. He sort of got the joke.

“And Farrukh would be a Muslim?” Charles asked.

“No, I am a Parsi.”

“Oh, a Zoroastrian!” He knitted his brows. “So, tell me, why are there so few of you?”

Instead of launching into a socio-historic reason, I said, “Maybe something to do with our sexual inclinations?” whereupon the equerries behind the prince literally grabbed his shoulder and moved him on to the next person in the line –I think it was our composer A.R. Rahman.

Born in India, Farrukh Dhondy travelled to England in 1964 and immersed himself in radical politics and the counterculture.

He kicked off a career in journalism interviewing Pink Floyd and Allen Ginsberg and covering the first meeting between the Beatles and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Dhondy was soon drawn into political activism.

He joined the Indian Workers Association and the British Black Panther Movement.

Within the radical activist collective Race Today, he worked alongside Darcus Howe and C. L. R. James.

He co-wrote the ground-breaking sit-com Tandoori Nights. In 1984 he became Channel 4’s Commissioning Editor for multicultural programming and was a driving force behind Salaam Bombay! and the trailblazing Bandung File.

THE CHASE

Hunted by Abir Mukherjee, Mulholland Books, $39. Abir Mukherjee’s latest book, Hunted, doesn’t mark the return of Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant ‘Surrender-not’ Banerjee.

Set in the present and in the UK and US, it introduces us to a cast of unforgettable characters – and to a parent’s nightmare.

Hunted is about the hunt for terrorists who set off a bomb in an LA shopping mall a week before the US presidential election.

It is also as much about the hunt for their children that two parents embark on. Sajid Khan in London, whose daughter Aliyah is missing. And Carrie in Florida, who makes the connection between her son Greg and the bomber, fearing he’s been radicalized.

When FBI agent Shreya’s daughter Isha also goes missing, the scope of an unknown organization’s conspiracy to bring America to its knees becomes clear.

Sajid must travel to the US with Carrie to save their kids, but how is he to get there with no visa and a name that is now on every list as the father of Aliyah who is associated with the bombing?

The tension and the terror are palpable as Mukherjee describes the flight and the scene at the airport.

Sajid felt cold sweat trickle down his flank. The woman in the booth pressed his passport to the scanner. He counted long seconds, bit his lip and watched her impassive face. She pulled out the passport and closed it.

“Mr Khan,” she said, placing the passport on the ledge between them, “welcome to Canada”.

And reveals the psychological hold a woman has on the kids.

The ability to get into your head and your heart. To understand where your hurt lay and tell you what you needed to make the pain go away. And all she asked in return was trust. And absolute obedience.

Can they find their kids before it’s too late?

 At a book reading during Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) in fall, Mukherjee described his process of writing as a catharsis – his way of sorting through the doubts and fears a parent is beset with about what the future holds for their children.

Oh, and the next Wyndham-Banerjee book? That’s coming soon, he told his audience.

IN SOLIDARITY

Letters to a Writer of Colour edited by Deepa Anappara and Taymour Soomro, Random House, $23. An international array of writers share the experiences, cultural traditions and convictions that have shaped them and their work. These include Amitava Kumar on why authenticity isn’t a license we carry in our wallets, Tahmina Anam on giving yourself permission to be funny and Madeleine Thien on how writing builds the room in which it can exist.

A LONG-AGO SECRET

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose, Viking, $24.95. A tale about a maid, a rat and a silver spoon that Molly heard from her grandmother.

Following the super successful The Maid, Nita Prose is back with a new mess and a new mystery that’s up to the maid Molly to solve.

When a world-renowned mystery author drops dead in the tearoom of the Regency Grand Hotel, Molly knows she alone holds the key to unlocking the killer’s identity.

But that key is buried deep in her past.

Is the story she heard long ago going to play out in some way?

BETWEEN THE LINES

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles, Simon and Schuster, $24.99. What is it about France in general and Paris in particular and bookstores?

The Little Paris Bookshop, The Little Village of Book Lovers, and now The Paris Library. But this one is based on the true story of the American Library in Paris.

Paris 1939. Odile Soucher has it all. A handsome police officer beau, a new best friend, a twin brother whom she adores, and a dream job at the American Library in Paris.

When World War II breaks out, Odile and her fellow librarians join the Resistance with the best weapons they have: books.

Again and again they risk their lives to help their Jewish readers.

But by the war’s end, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.

Montana 1983. Odile’s solitary existence in small-town Montana is interrupted by a lonely teenager whom she helps navigate the troubled waters of adolescence by always recommending the right book at the right time. Never suspecting that Lily will help her reckon with her own terrible secret.

THE SMARTEST NANI ON THE BLOCK

’Til Heist Do Us Part by Sara Desai, Berkley, $25.99. Diamond necklaces, billionaire mafia bosses and student loans – it’s all in a day’s work for Simi Chopra and her ragtag crew as readers discovered in To Have And To Heist.

But now it’s been a year since the daring highwire heist and after living it up on the reward money, they are back where they started, struggling to pay their bills.

So when a Chicago mafia boss demands they return the jewels –plus interest, or else – Simi and her partner in crime, Jack Danger, have few options.

It doesn’t help that nani with her sixth sense and razor-sharp intellect has clued into what her granddaughter is up to.

SECOND CHANCES

The Shaadi Set-Up by Lillie Vale, GP Putnam’s Sons, $22. High school sweethearts Rita Chitniss and Milan Rao were a couple until he broke her heart.

Six years later, she has a successful business and an almost perfect boyfriend when Milan reappears.

Only this time, he needs her business expertise, not her heart.

But could this be a second chance at love?

OF MYTHS AND FACTS

Ultimate Greek Mythology by LJ Tracosas, illustrated by Charli Vince, Z Kids, $18.99. Get to know Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon, Aphrodite and Dionysus.

Learn about the traits, symbols and awesome powers of fantastical creatures, and the origin stories of humans and elements of the natural world.

“Did you know that Greece is a country of mountains and rocky islands, and there aren’t many meadows filled with blooms. To ancient Greeks, wildflowers seemed like a delightful and special find. A few myths try to explain their origins, including the myths of Narcissus, Hyacinth, and Adonis, who is known for the anemone flower.”

Packed with fascinating myths and fun facts, this is great read for kids and adults whose knowledge of Greek mythology is so hazy that they can’t recall much beyond Icarus, Medusa and the Trojan Horse!

CRACK THIS CODE!

Puzzles for Spies, GCHQ, Puffin, $20.99. For many years, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has worked, in secret, to gather and use information to keep the people of UK safe.

Today, the spies of the online world who began as codebreakers, helping win World War II, love puzzles and brainteasers.

Have you got what it takes to complete your top-secret mission?

THE WORLD IS IN HIS HANDS

Project F by Jeanne DuPrau, Random House, $24.50. Climate change has wreaked havoc on earth hundreds of years ago and now people live a simpler life.

There are no cars, planes, televisions or smartphones. Then thirteen-year-old Keith uncovers a secret that will change the world.  

TEEN REVIEW

By ZHANGAN LI

2034: A Novel of the Next World War by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis, Penguin Random House, $23.00. 2034 is a geopolitical thriller exploring the possibility of a war between the US and China.

This book felt like a big warning sign – a third world war is not an unrealistic scenario, and the book alludes to the United States as a declining empire, not unlike the British Empire in the 20th century.

I was pleased with the diverse perspectives in this book, including those of a fourth-generation Marine pilot, a Chinese admiral with an American mother, an American official with a family in India, and many more.

2034 has a very narrow scope on its hypothetical war – all major events are centred around the US Navy. It has no perspective from a non-military or non-governmental character.

2034 also has many loose ends – the technology difference is near-unrealistic, and China did not react to a devastating attack with equal or greater force. 2034 didn’t answer those questions.

While I did find the book interesting, I would not recommend this unless you are a military enthusiast. Remember the questions 2034 didn’t answer well? Let us hope they never will be.        

 • Zhanghan Li is a youth volunteer at Brampton Library.