Wondering what to read next? Isn’t it hard to find a quality book which must hook you up till the last page? Especially if we need to select our next read from the world of Indian literature, which has 22 major languages officially recognised.

So here we go, after a lot of contemplation, we present to you 10 Best Translated Books from HarperCollins Publishers India. This list comprises of our recommendations of ten novels from regional languages, translated into English. Considering the tastes and preferences of our fellow book readers and also to provide some flavor, we have carefully handpicked the titles from different genres:

1. Moustache by S Hareesh: Originally published in Malayalam titled “Meesha” and eventually translated into English by Jayashree Kalathil, “Moustache” is a contemporary fiction; mixing magic, myth and metaphor into a tale of far-reaching resonance. “Moustache” by S Hareesh is the winner of The JCB Prize for Literature 2020.

2. Body and Blood by Benyamin: Translated by Swarup B R from Malayalam, “Body and Blood” is by turns introspective and thrilling – a meditation on faith and God that also holds up a mirror to the power and corruption of organized religion. It is the story of  the lives of men and women caught in a web of criminally orchestrated accidents and medically induced comas.

3. Theeyoor Chronicles by N Prabhakaran: In N. Prabhakaran’s masterful hands – and in Jayasree Kalathil’s brilliant translation – history, myth, facts, nature, political events, and everyday concerns of ordinary people weave together into a story that is at once local and universal. “Theeyoor Chronicles” originally published in Malayalam in 1999 as “Theeyoor Rekhakal” is a story of a Journalist, who investigates unnatural suicides in Theeyoor and even after completing this project, refuses to leave his consciousness, and decides to write its history.

4. Baby Doll by Gracy: “Baby Doll” brings a comprehensive selection of Gracy’s work translated from the Malayalam by Fathima E V. In the pages of this anthology we will find: the bitter defiance of a daughter going to her mother’s funeral in her most alluring sari; a contemporary retelling of the story of Draupadi; the sinister coming-of-age tale of a young girl…

5. Along with the Sun by Ki. Rajanarayanan (ed.): Written by celebrated contemporary Tamil authors in a range of literary styles and edited by Ki. Rajanarayanan, these are the stories that will resonate universally long after they are read. Translated by Padma Narayanan, “Along with the Sun”, talks about the lives of people living against the backdrop of the black soil land.

6. Legal Fiction by Chandan Pandey: Translated by Bharatbhooshan Tiwari, “Legal Fiction” is a brilliant existential thriller and a chilling parable of our times inspired by true events from today’s India. It was first published in 2020 in Hindi titled “Vaidhanik Galp”.

7. After Death Comes Water by Joy Goswami: “After Death Comes Water” is an essential collection of prose poetry from Joy Goswami, the most important poet writing in Bengali. Selected and translated by Sampurna Chattarji, this book showcases the extraordinary range of writer’s genius and inventiveness.

8. The Adventures of Kakababu Vol 1 By  Sunil Gangopadhyay: “Kakababu” – the fictional adventure character was created by Bengali writer Sunil Gangopadhyay in 1979. The “Shontu-Kakababu Series” continued for 33 years with around 36 novels in print. In “The Adventures of Kakababu Vol 1” we can find the stories – ‘The Emperor’s Lost Heads’, ‘The King of the Emerald Isles’, etc, where the Uncle-Nephew duo goes on mysterious trips to the little-known areas to solve mysteries & uncover truth.

9. This Life At Play by Girish Karnad: “This Life at Play” is an autobiography of one of modern India’s greatest cultural figures – Girish Karnad. It has been translated from the Kannada in parts by Girish Karnad & Srinath Perur. The memoir provides an unforgettable glimpse into the life-shaping experiences of a towering genius, and a unique window into the India in which Girish lived and worked.

10. How to Tell the Story of an Insurgency by Aruni Kashyap (ed): Written originally in Assamese, Bodo and English, the fifteen stories in this book attempt to humanize the longstanding, bloody conflict that the rest of India knows of only through facts and figures or reports in newspapers and on television channels. Edited by Aruni Kashyap, out of the 15 stories, four were originally written in English, two in Bodo and the rest in Assamese. Some of the stories included in this anthology are – “Vigil (English) by Jahnavi Barua”, “What Lies Over Hear? (Assamese) By Sanjib Pol Deka translated into English by Stuti Goswami”, “Crimson” (Assamese) by Ratnottama Das Bikrom translated into English by Mitali Goswami”, “Koli-Puran (Assamese) Arup Kumar Nath”, “A Political Tale by Juri Baruah”, “A Hen that Doesn’t know how to Hatch its own Eggs (Bodo) by Nandeswar Daimari”, “Hongla Pandit (Bodo) by Katindra Swargiary”.