The Small House  (English, Hardcover, Murari Timeri)

Accomplished historian and sole-surviving heir of the once renowned Krishnarangam royal family, Roopmati Malhotra is obsessed with the past. For years she has immersed herself in the study of ancient kingdoms and in childhood memories of a brother she worshipped but lost to the sea, and steered clear of forming deep emotional bonds.

When Roopmati and her friend Tazneem discover that their respective spouses, Khris and Hari, have been cheating on them, both know exactly what to do. The emotional and distraught Taz is ready to fight tooth and nail to save her marriage, even though she suspects Hari to be a closet gay. But Roopmati is merely curious about Khris’s new fancy and, taken with the idea of experiencing the other life, she decides to seek out the chinnawheedu, the ‘small house’ where Khris keeps his mistress.

Meanwhile, a mysterious message from her ancestral home leads Roopmati to a startling revelation, and she suddenly realizes that her past, which she has always looked to for solace and escape, may not have been quite what she believed it to be . . .

The Small House is a many-layered exploration of the fragility of modern-day relationships, of desire, passion and ambition, and of memories that lie in wait to threaten the present.