Anita Desai   Feasting and Fasting (Vintage).This, the most recent novel by one of India's leading female authors, eloquently portrays the frustration of a sensitive young woman stuck in the stifling atmosphere of home while her spoilt brother is packed off to study in America.

 

E.M. Forster   A Passage to India (Longman). Forster's most acclaimed novel, a withering critique of colonialism set in the 1920s. Memorable as much for its sympathetic portrayal of middle-class Indian life as for its insights into cultural misunderstandings.

Clive James   The Silver Castle (Picador). Delightful story of a street urchin's rise from the roadside slums of outer Mumbai to the bright lights of Bollywood.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala   Out of India (Penguin). One of many short-story collections that shows India in its full colours: amusing, shocking and thought-provoking. Other titles include How I Became a Holy Mother; Like Birds, Like Fishes; Heat and Dust ; and In Search of Love and Beauty .

Rudyard Kipling   Kim (Penguin). Cringingly colonialist at times, of course, but the atmosphere of India and Kipling's love of it shine through in this subtle story of an orphaned white boy. Kipling's other key works on India are two books of short stories: Soldiers Three and In Black and White .

Dominique Lapierre   City of Joy (Arrow). Melodramatic story of a white man's journey into Calcutta's slums, loaded with anecdotes about Indian religious beliefs and customs.

Rohinton Mistry   A Fine Balance (Faber). Two friends seek promotion from their low-caste rural lives to the opportunities of the big smoke. A compelling and savage triumph-of-the-human-spirit novel detailing the evils of the caste system and of Indira Gandhi's brutal policies during the Emergency. Mistry's Such a Long Journey (Faber) is an acclaimed account of a Bombay Parsi's struggle to maintain personal integrity in the face of betrayals and disappointment.

" R.K. Narayan   Gods, Demons and Others (Vintage, India). Classic Indian folk tales and popular myths told through the voice of a village storyteller. Many of Narayan's beautifully crafted books, full of touching characters and subtle humour, are set in the fictional south India territory of Malgudi.

" Arundhati Roy   The God of Small Things (Minerva). Haunting Booker Prize-winner about a well-to-do south Indian family caught between the snobberies of high caste tradition, a colonial past and the diverse personal histories of its members. Seen through the eyes of two children, the assortment of scenes from Keralan life are as memorable as the characters themselves, while the comical and finally tragic turn of events say as much about Indian history as the refrain that became the novel's catchphrase: "things can change in a day".

" Salman Rushdie   Midnight's Children (Everyman). This story of a man born at the very moment of Independence, whose life mirrors that of modern India itself, won Rushdie the Booker Prize and the enmity of Indira Gandhi, who had it banned in India. Set in Kerala and Bombay, The Moor's Last Sigh (Jonathan Cape), was the subject of a defamation case brought by Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray.

" Vikram Seth   A Suitable Boy (Phoenix). Vast, all-embracing tome set in UP shortly after Independence; wonderful characterization and an impeccable sense of place and time make this an essential read for those long train journeys.

Manohar Shetty (ed) Ferry Crossing (Penguin). A "must read" if you are heading for Goa; broadly themed and colourful short stories woven around the local landscape and people.

Kushwant Singh   Train to Pakistan (Ravi Dayal, Delhi). A chillingly realistic portrayal of life in a village on the Partition line, set in the summer of 1947. Singh's other works include Delhi: A Novel , a series of voices from the city's past interrupted by an old man's quest for sexual satisfaction in the present and Sex, Scotch and Scholarship , a collection of wry short stories.

William Sutcliffe   Are You Experienced? (Penguin). Hilarious easy read sending up a "typical" backpacker trip round India.

Mark Tully   The Heart of India (Penguin). The loyalties and deceptions of village life in UP, revealed through a series of short stories by an old India hand and former BBC correspondent. Hardly the best fiction to have come out of the country, but there are few more accessible anatomies of conflict-ridden modern India.