As the world braces for a brand new year, in what has become an annual tradition, I look back at the fabulous literary journey we had at Readomania in the year gone by. 2022 was the year of plenty for us. Readomania presented a multi-genre bouquet to book lovers. And for me, it was another year of a bit of learning and a bit of teaching as I developed and edited each one of our amazing books.
We began the year reliving some glorious moments of our illustrious past with Anupama Jain’s Kings, Saviours & Scoundrels: Timeless Tales from Katha Sarita Sagara—eternal tales of India, retold for the world. Rooted in the traditional storytelling of Indian legends, mythical beings, and their splendid adventures, Kings, Saviours and Scoundrels is a melting pot of entertaining kathas. Satirist Anupama not only showcased her versatility but also her wonderful sketching skills in this book!
Staying with mythology, prolific author Mona Verma along with Sanjna Verma penned The Daivya Sutras: Stories from the Puranas. Puranas have fascinating tales of the Trinity, valour of the warriors, the ethereal beauty of the goddesses, love, and longing of the nymphs, and penance of the sages. The Daivya Sutras invites you to lose yourself in this world of surreal imagination and magic. And don’t forget to check out Mona’s wonderful illustrations in this book!
Could a woman married to the greatest warriors of all time just be an ordinary queen? Who was the real Draupadi? The battle of Kurukshetra is over. The Pandavas reign peacefully over Hastinapur but all is not well with Draupadi. Leaving the palace, in search of answers, Draupadi meets Mahadev who brings to her the ultimate truth of her being. Drawing deeply from Indian mythology across the yugas, Rupande Mehta’s Trihayani: The Untold Story of Draupadi is unlike anything you have heard before!
Humourista Chetna Keer took us on an entertaining roller-coaster ride with Giddha on My Gulmohur, a racy, literary satire mapping the ‘oops’ and downs of Pandemic’s people, like you and me. A poignant portrait pulsating with the heartbeat of incorrigible Hope.
The desire to look good is intrinsic to human beings. Is weight loss then just a trivial pursuit? Is it only about being attractive to others? Are the slim and svelte the happiest people? Come and join Siya in her weight loss journey as she is forced to answer troubling questions. Debutant author Anuradha Ramachandran’s The Secret of a Telltale Diet is as relatable and real as it comes!
Master storyteller Harshali Singh penned the third instalment of the Haveli Series, a cosy thriller—A Paradox of Dreams. This is a genre that Harshali had not explored in her previous books and she aces it.
The cover for this book has also been long-listed for Oxford Book Cover Prize 2022.
After the nail-biting The Eleventh Indian, Gautam Marwaha penned yet another winner—Diamonds of Hope with its gruesome trail of blood through murky waters. This tightly spun international, racy thriller will make you gasp. Gautam’s crafts a high-stake game where the risks border on insanity.
Queen of thrillers Archana Sarat created more magic with Sleeping Dogs. Twenty-one-year-old Aarna suffers from repetitive, debilitating nightmares about her mother who committed suicide fifteen years ago. Intrigued by her childhood, of which she has lost all memory of, she embarks on a quest to find out the reason behind her mother's suicide. Little did she know that she must let sleeping dogs lie.
In her second outing with Readomania, seasoned actress Susmita Mukherjee delves into the thriller genre for the first time with The Khajuraho Conundrum. And boy, what a page-tuner she has crafted! As hidden horrors rip open the surface and explode the peaceful heritage town of Khajuraho, Ms Mukherjee takes us on a wild ride where there are allegations and counter allegations, a divided police force, bureaucratic and media pressure, political interference… And unbecoming to all, a slurry is brewing in the hidden core of the sage town. A must read!
Feted by Dr Shashi Tharoor as India’s answer to Dan Brown, Manjiri Prabhu’s destination thriller Legend of the Snow Queen—set against a Christmassy, Bavarian winter-wonderland—is a chilling international conspiracy and a haunting love story. An ominous ET. A dead body by the frozen Starnberg Lake. A cryptic message. As investigative journalist Re Parkar plunges into the snowy trail, he unravels a conspiracy that brings royal history and love together in a dramatic finale.
“Part allegory, part fable, this engrossing and entertaining novel carries us into a present-day interpretation of the eternally compelling Vikram and Betaal story cycle.” This is how renowned author Namita Gokhale endorses Sunita Pant Bansal’s The Return of Vikram and Betaal. Justice Vikram is paid a visit by Doot, the angel of death. Vikram’s time on earth is over, but Doot offers him a deal. Vikram has to solve some actual criminal cases with unusual, dramatic and often unpredictable verdicts… Gosh! What a ride this book is!
Every time a doctor writes, what comes out is not necessarily a prescription. We had some brilliant doctors pen amazing books tales this year. Dr Deeksha Pandey wrote Drenched: A story of love, desperation, and rejuvenation. Deeksha specialises in spinning engaging tales around a health issues. Drenched delves into a very common yet hardly spoken about issue, that affects one in three women. Her story will make readers aware and help them shed the stigma associated with a lot of ailments.
Dr Debaprasad Mukherjee’s protagonist Krishna—a scant educated, jobless, ambitionless fellow with a mind muddled with the invisible walls of religion, goes through some life-altering events. Does he still remain a good-for-nothing person? Mukherjee’s Good for Nothing is a wonderful story of transformation set in Chhattisgarh.
What is true love? Who are soulmates? Can love be defined by the constructs of society and convention? Can an affair rescue a marriage? Can true love ever tear people apart? In these times of speed dating, hook-ups, and break-ups, prolific writer and pathologist, Dr Shalini Mullick’s Stars from the Borderless Sea, a collection of three riveting stories, takes an unconventional, honest, empathetic look at that most universal of human emotions—love.
Acclaimed gynaecologist and obstetrician, Dr Tripti Sharan’s Anecdotes and Antidotes gives you a peek into the intriguing and adventurous life of a doctor. There is humour and sarcasm, there is conviction and scepticism. And above all there is a firm belief in human tenacity, to overcome all odds.
Ex-super cop, Maxwell Pereira’s Magadi Acres—The Story of Coffee, is based on the memories of his boyhood, in a flourishing coffee plantation in the verdant hills of the Western Ghats. As he narrates his own story, he also accurately chronicles the history of coffee—the humble bean that shook the world, induced multiple bans, rocked kings and the clergy, and brought political upheavals across the globe.
Do a stellar academic background, a well-paying job with ample recognition, and a loving life partner imply happiness? Smita Das Jain asks this pertinent question in A Price to Love, a contemporary tale showcasing the struggles of making a thriving personal life and a successful career tango in the highly competitive corporate arena… especially if you are a woman.
Readomania published Redundant—Malati Mukherjee’s English translation of Bitan Chakraborty’s Bengali novella Haat Kaata. Have you ever looked at an ordinary person on the street and wondered what their struggles are, what their stories might be? Redundant will compel you to listen to their heart-breaking stories, marvel at their brave treading of paths we would hesitate to walk on and force you to become part of the struggling pedestrian’s reality. There is no letting up — no happy endings, just life in all its authenticity.
Popular media personality, Mamathi Chari as Maya Spark showcased her amazing storytelling as well as sketching skills in The Making of Heroes: The Adventures of Zoe and Scruffy, published by Reado Junior, our children’s imprint. Zoe the Fierce along with her BFFE Rita the Sane, Alex the Brave and Zoe's dog Scruffy solve a slurry of cases. With superb deductive powers and some secret superpowers, this is a team for the win!
Sutapa Basu never ceases to amaze me with her versatility. Every year she reinvents herself with a new genre. This time she forayed into narrative non-fiction with the fabulous and informative Reado Junior title The Birth of My Nation. Oh, by the way, she also did the illustrations herself. What a talent she is!
Sacheth’s Of Marriages and Madness consists of eight dazzling stories that brilliantly portray the violence and mysteries in the lives of ordinary people. Each page of the book is shot through with precise language, vivid details, and intense emotions, making it a refreshing read.
Taken from the pages of the secret diary of Asoke Mukherjee, the finest criminal lawyer in Kolkata, Amrita Mukherjee’s The Secret Diary of a Criminal Lawyer is a ride into the murky world of the human psyche, where crimes are plotted and murders are executed in cold blood. Mukherjee’s brilliant mind and eye for detail sees him overturn seemingly lost cases and save many an innocent life. Amrita’s first non-fiction book presents 10 cases that left an indelible impression on Asoke Mukherjee’s mind and tested his acumen as a lawyer. Brace for a thrilling read!
Don’t we all get bogged down by the mundanity of everydayness? Have you ever thought of taking a break and riding away into a faraway land? Well, journalist Sabir Hussain had similar thoughts when he set off on a journey across the Northeast in the winter of 2018 at the age of 53 on a Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle. As I edited Readomania’s first travelogue, I could literally feel each road bump and savour every cup of tea that Sabir wrote about. Sabir’s 7,000-km ride across Sikkim, North Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, and Nagaland brought with it its share of adventure and indescribable joy. Into the East is not just a road trip, it is a journey into self-discovery too.
Sunita Singh paid the most heart-touching tribute to her father, former Chief Justice of India, Late Shri Kamal Narain Singh by penning The Making of a Chief Justice of India: Life and Times of Justice Kamal Narain Singh. She made us witness his journey from the corridors of the District Court of Allahabad to the highest seat of justice in the Supreme Court of India, presiding over some of the landmark judgements and controversial cases in the country.
I relived my childhood through celebrity anchor from the ’80s-turned author Manna Bahadur’s Doordarshan Days—a memoir that reminiscences about DD’s anxious birth in 1959, teething pains in the Sixties, young golden period in the Eighties to the Kendra’s giant stature now. Ms Bahadur brings you all the juicy, spicy, and comical anecdotes behind the camera from that era.
Supriya Newar continued her love affair with the City of Joy with her book of verse, Kolkata Classics. The city simply lends itself to poetry. Supriya entices you with her observations and expressions until you’re cajoled into taking a re-look at all that makes Kolkata, a muse, a poem.
And in continuation with Readomania’s Young Author Program—an innovative program designed to support young writers who have a flair for writing—we published two YAP anthologies this year—The House of Stories and Quote Unquote.
Phew! That’s a lot of books! So many different titles, so many genres, so many authors…each with their own personality, set of demands, and may I say, varied temperaments. It takes a calm mind and some experience and a half to ensure a smooth ride. Is it easy? No! Any creative process is ridden with differences of opinions, ego clashes, last-minute changes, anger, frustration, multiple rounds of editing, proofreading and cover designing…sometimes the stress can become overwhelming. But when the printed books are released with the signature Readomania superlative covers, quality storytelling and top-class production quality, all the blood and tears seem worth it.
I love my job. We don’t just make books, we enrich lives. And, we shall keep telling great stories and bring hope and happiness to all.
I, on behalf of Team Readomania, wish everyone a healthy and fruitful year ahead. May good literature continue to make us introspect and make the world a better place!
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