Kintsugi
By Anukrti Upadhyay

Broken people and broken lives fit together like a complex puzzle of pure gold. This is what we felt after reading Upadhyay’s stellar fiction Kintsugi (HarperCollins India). Named after the ancient Japanese art of mending broken objects with gold, the novel revolves around extraordinary women and their simmering stories of passion and love. It opens with the story of Haruko, who travels to Jaipur from New York, to learn the craft of jewellery making from the sunars—it’s not a skill they want to readily part with, especially to a woman. There’s Leela, who becomes her apprentice of sorts, slowly learning to become her own person as a karigar. Somewhere, in Japan, the rebellious Meena, whose life is intertwined with Haruko’s, has abandoned home and a prospective groom for Yuri, the woman she loves and grieves for. Upadhyay takes great pains to explore the tiny details, both of craft and human relationships, and her soft and lyrical prose makes this a journey that will stay with you, long after you’ve read it.
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Price: Rs 499

Hamnet
By Maggie O’Farrell