Saraswati Park
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Anjali Joseph
Harpercollins India
272 pages, Rs 299
In this elliptical and enigmatic first novel, Mohan, a middle-aged letter writer—the last of a breed—sits under a banyan tree in a quiet enclave in Bombay, furnishing missives for village migrants and disenchanted lovers. But Mohan’s true passion is collecting second-hand books. So when the pavement booksellers of Fort are summarily evicted, Mohan’s life starts to lose some of its lustre. At this tenuous moment Mohan—and his wife, Lakshmi—are joined by their nephew, Ashish, a diffident, sexually uncertain 19-year-old.
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