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Books

A Mughal Disneyland and a ripping yarn

The Smoke is Rising, by Mahesh Rao, and The Strangler Vine, by M.J. Carter. A funny, angry view of contemporary India, and a Boy's Own picture of one of its past tipping points

19 April 2014

9:00 AM

19 April 2014

9:00 AM

The Smoke is Rising Mahesh Rao

Daunt Books, pp.299, £14.99, ISBN: 9781444777604

The Strangler Vine M.J. Carter

Fig Tree, pp.311, £12.99, ISBN: 9780241146231

Mysore, once the capital of a princely kingdom in South India, has lost its lustre. In Mahesh Rao’s darkly comic novel, grandiose futuristic visions are being floated: in a city desperate to reinvent itself for today’s brave new world, ancient temples and palaces are no longer enough. With India’s space programme about to send a man to the moon, Mysore must make its own giant leap.

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Available from the Spectator Bookshop, £13.99 / £11.69. Tel: 08430 600033. Lee Langley was born in Calcutta and is the author of A House in Pondicherry.

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