Here Are Your Essential Reads for September

Looking for something interesting to read this month? We’ve got three books picked out for you.

Glow

By Vasudha Rai (Penguin Random House India, Rs 299)

Former beauty director of top Indian fashion magazines, Vasudha Rai knows a thing or two about beauty. And what she’s learnt is that it begins inside out. Her first book Glow looks at 60 Indian ingredients that can be used in 100 different ways, eaten or applied, to make you look and feel better. A certified 300-hour yoga teacher and a frequent contributor to newspapers, Vasudha uses her own experience along with a five-member panel including a nutritionist, two Ayurvedic doctors, a naturopathic chef and a herbal beauty expert, to pick ingredients – from garden-variety fruit and vegetables to Ayurvedic herbs – that build strength and brighten skin. A must-read for Indian beauty junkies.

 

Missing, Presumed Dead

By Kiran Manral (Amaryllis, Rs 350)

If you’re looking for a thriller with dash of psychological drama, extramarital relationships and the idyllic settings of a hill station, this is the novel for you. Exploring the crippling boundaries of mental illness while taking the reader through the throes of a bad marriage and the introduction of ‘the other’, the book keeps you hooked to the end. A prolific writer with several books of various genres under her belt, Kiran’s latest offering will delight her fans and those looking for a gripping read.

 

Sunburn

By Laura Lippman (Faber & Faber, Rs 499)

Polly is on the run from her past. She abandons her husband and little daughter at a beach resort, and makes her way into a small town out of nowhere. There, she meets Adam – who has been hired to investigate her past indiscretions involving the murder of her first husband and a possible life insurance scam – but who finds himself irresistibly drawn to her instead. What is it about this woman that draws men like moths to a flame? What is she after? What has she set out to do? This unputdownable thriller hits all the right notes.

First published in eShe’s September 2018 issue