Fiction or non? Entertaining or insightful (or both)? Racy or meditative? The year gone by has been made richer by those who wrote and contributed to our knowledge of the world, of women and of relationships.

At least two Indian women made it to international bestseller lists. To call Booker-prize winning author Arundhati Roy’s twin memoir—that of her own activism and that of her mother Mary—the most anticipated memoir of the year might be a bit of an under-statement. And Kiran Desai’s third novel, published after a break of two decades, had the heft of an epic.

Translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, Banu Mushtaq’s collection of short stories, Heart Lamp became the first Kannada book and first short story collection to win the 2025 International Booker Prize and looked at patriarchy and the gender roles it forces people to adopt.

Some books made their impact from the grave. The publication of Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s devastating posthumous account of being a sex trafficking victim parceled out by Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell to the rich and powerful had the effect of bringing down an already disgraced Andrew, brother of the king of England, stripping him of his title and benefits.

Meanwhile I asked four women whose reading taste is impeccable about the books that made an impact. Here’s the list:

Reader, book-lover, editor and writer, Nilanjana S Roy is the author of The Wildings (2012) and The Hundred Names of Darkness (2013). Her 2016 Delhi noir fiction, Black River was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger award.

Arundhati Roy: Mother Mary Comes To Me (India Hamish Hamilton, ₹899)

Arundhati Roy writes with candour and humour about two freedom-loving women — her mother, Mary Roy and herself — who profoundly shaped and questioned the cultures around them. A tender, ferocious and deeply honest memoir that doesn’t duck the abusive, destructive side of a legend, but rejects well-worn trauma plots in favour of calm acceptance and hard-won love. Mothers, daughters, writing and politics, and subtle lessons in how to keep faith with yourself through every challenge: this is a memoir for the ages.

“…and then the colossal pyramids of distant rock and ice seemed right before us, ablaze in the sudden sunlight, inhabiting a different dimension far removed from ours, nearer the stars and moon.” I loved this clear, unsentimental but wondrous conjuring of the many seasons of a life spent in the mountains, far away from the self-importance of India’s metros. This is a thoughtful ramble around Ranikhet that brings........

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