Mumbai's masses, Poles in Kolkata

NEW RELEASES

No God in Sight
Altaf Tyrewala
Penguin Books India
171 pages; Rs 195

One of the most remarkable debuts in recent months, Tyrewala's novel is a fascinating look at the minutiae of lives that make up the city of Mumbai. The book's very unusual structure "" it jumps from one first-person account to another, rarely pausing for breath before moving to the next narrative, and never returning to a character "" helps it chronicle this vast canvas of interlinked lives.

The cast of characters includes a young couple going in for an abortion, an abortionist and a butcher who separately ponder the nature of killing, two lovers living in a slum on the terrace of a skyscraper, a lethargic senior constable, an unrelated group of people who each share their name with a terrorist killed in a shooting, and many others.

Some of the links between one narrator and the next are obvious ones "" two family members, for instance "" but others are tenuous and random (two people living on different floors of the same building; a wrong number) and it adds up to a startling, composite picture of the city itself. This is a challenging, insightful read that gives the lie to the notion that a slim novel can't be packed with ideas.

There, Where the Pepper Grows
Bem Le Hunte
HarperCollins India
Rs 295; 296 pages

"I suppose I could start this story with Adam and Eve, if I were to start at the very beginning," says the narrator in this book's prologue. "Better than starting with the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, because that is the story of my people and we would be travelling along tributaries that take us upstream, instead of to the oceans we all share."

This is the story of a man named Benjamin, who flees his native Poland during the Nazi occupation with the hope of fulfilling his father's long-held dream of settling in Palestine. Along the way he and his fellow survivors are stranded in Calcutta, where they end up staying. The result is a moving story about a search for refuge and a passionate plea for tolerance "" against a backdrop that brings East and West together.

Book of Rachel
Esther David
Viking
Rs 295; 197 pages

A follow-up to David's Book of Esther, published a few years ago, this novel continues the saga of Bene Israel Jews in India. It tells the story of Rachel, who lives alone in a house by the sea "" her husband having died and her children having migrated to Israel. Her life revolves around the synagogue in her village and the preparation of traditional Bene Israel Jewish food.

While the synagogue is now in her care and she sweeps and cleans it regularly, hoping it will become the scene of communal gatherings again, the ancient recipes she prepares also provide a link both to her past and her children. This is a gripping personal story as well as a chronicle of a unique community.