1 The Second Chance Convenience Store (Pan Macmillan)

Kim Ho-Yeon’s bestseller from Korea is about the owner of a corner store who takes in a homeless man who does a good deed — a kind soul whose presence will transform the whole neighbourhood.

2 Firaq Gorakhpuri: The Poet of Indianness (Rupa Publications)

Drawing inspiration from English poetry’s romanticism and the subtleties of ancient Sanskrit poetics, the legendary poet created a unique idiom of feeling that author Surinder Deol evocatively brings to life.

3 Magnificent Murals – Buddhist Art of Ajanta (Tulika)

This children’s book by Ashwin Prabhu takes the reader to a pictorial Buddhist universe draped across cave walls — a journey back in time to the murals of Ajanta that are filled with stories and magic.