A STRONG literary year was filled with stunning stories written by skilled south Asian authors from around the world.
They explored diverse themes, ideas, emotions, time periods, characters, and journeys in a marvellous melting pot of books that opened windows into new worlds. Eastern Eye decided to celebrate some of these great literary talents with a top 10 list of 2023 books, including one that stood out.
The Twilight Garden by Sara Nisha Adams: The talented British author followed up her acclaimed 2022 debut novel The Reading List with another uniquely crafted read about human relationships. The story spanning across two generations drew readers into the world of diverse characters, connected by a community garden. The multi-layered story showed less can be more with relatable characters experiencing easily identifiable human emotions. The timely book beautifully showed the power of community and had life-affirming lessons, at a time of so much division.
Nala Damayanti by Anand Neelakantan: The best-selling Indian author has made a name for himself with fantasyfilled prequel novels to the smash-hit Baahubali movies, along with stories inspired by classic Indian texts like Ramayana. This story of a bird trying to save humanity by proving love exists is a magical retelling of a famous Mahabharata tale, which is essentially a romance at its core. The skilled writer breathed new life into the ancient myth that is loaded with plenty of inspiring wisdom like the importance of believing in yourself, humanity, destiny, and of course love.
Book of the year
Best non-fiction