The Confession of Sultana Daku

By Sujit Saraf

Penguin India,

296 pages, Rs 399

From the author of the highly-praised The Peacock Throne comes a novel based on the real-life Sultana Daku, an early twentieth-century bandit who was sentenced to death by a colonial court. In this retelling of Sultana Daku’s tale, Saraf imagines him narrating his life story – the escapades, adventures, love affairs, friendships and betrayals – to a British officer, aware throughout that in the morning he will be hanged.