For this week, we have five brilliant books from writers all over the world, depicting subaltern histories of nationalism, colonialism, and racism, including This is My America & The Hungry Tide.
This Is My America ****
Author: Kim Johnso
This novel explores racism in the American justice system, seventeen-year-old Tracy’s dad is an innocent Black man on death row, and her brother, a promising track star, is accused of killing a white girl. She attempts to save both of them while their Texas town’s racist history bets against her.
Bengali Settlement in Britain ****
Author: Faruque Ahmed
The 1st half of the 19th century saw Bengalis taking up jobs as sailors in the British East India Company’s ships. In the second half of the 19th century, more Bengalis started traveling to Britain for higher studies. Today, their descendants, the British Bengalis hold esteemed positions in British business and politics.
Faruque Ahmed traced back 400 years of Bengali migration to Britain. His book is about the many forgotten stories of the triumphs and despairs that these people and their ancestors witnessed in their lifetime to reach where they are today.
The Heart Asks Pleasure First ****
Author: Karuna Ezara Parikh
Author Karuna Ezara Parikh brings you an extraordinary tale of love that gets torn by the world from which they belong. Daya is a young ballet student from India who is living in Wales. She meets Aaftab, a Muslim Lawyer from Pakistan and they fall in love.
The couple tried to overcome the barriers of nationality, religion, and language to make their relationship work. But soon they are met with unprecedented cataclysmic events that shift the course of their lives forever. The Heart Asks Pleasure First is a spellbinding novel that speaks urgently to the frailties of our times. The author humanizes the themes of love, friendship, family, migration, and xenophobia.
Hidden Figures ****
Author: Margot Lee Shetterly
Set amid the civil rights movement, Hidden Figures depicts the story of NASA’s African American female mathematician who played a crucial role in America’s space program to the moon. Before Austraunut Neil Armstrong walked on the surface of the moon, a group of professionals worked as human computers to calculate the flight paths of this historic achievement. Among these groups was a bright African American woman whose equations helped NASA to launch rockets and astronauts into space. The book moves from World War 2 through NASA’s golden era, touches the civil rights era, the Space race, the Cold War, and the Women’s rights movement.
Margot Lee interweaved rich history with the story of five courageous women whose work changed the world forever.
The Hungry Tide *****
Author: Amitabh Ghosh
Amitabh Gosh brings a gripping tale giving an insight into a subaltern history of the mesmerizing Sundarbans. The story revolves around Piya Roy, an American marine biologist of Indian descent who comes to the beautiful lush Island of the Sundarbans in search of rare species of river dolphin.
The settlers were already living in fear of the drowning tides and man-eating tigers. Piya, with the help of a local fisherman and a translator, launches into a journey unaware of the powerful political undercurrents of this isolated corner of the world.
