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South Asia: poverty and princes

A new history explores the parallels across South Asian culture. Novels by Kamala Markandaya are being republished - we hear from her daughter Kim Oliver and scholar Alastair Niven

Joya Chatterji has written about the South Asian twentieth century in her new book called Shadows at Noon. Tripurdaman Singh has been researching Indian princely states. Novels by Kamala Markandaya (1924-2004) are being republished. Her daughter Kim Oliver and literary scholar Alastair Niven discuss Nectar in a Sieve. A bestseller when it first came out in 1954, it's a story about a tenant farmer, his wife and the impact of a tannery built in a neighbouring village. Rana Mitter hosts.

The books recommended by our guests are:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Those-Days-Sunil-Gangopadhyay/dp/0140268529
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lady-Alice-Bhatti-Mohammed-Hanif/dp/0099516756
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/23130761

Producer: Julian Siddle

Release date:

Available now

45 minutes

Podcast