Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cry, the Peacock | 1963 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 2 | Voices in the City | 1965 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 3 | Bye Bye Blackbird | 1968 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 4 | The Peacock Garden | 1974 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 5 | Where Shall We Go This Summer? | 1975 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 6 | Fire on the Mountain | 1977 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 7 | Clear Light of Day | 1980 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 8 | The Village by the Sea | 1982 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 9 | In Custody | 1984 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 10 | Baumgartner’s Bombay | 1989 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 11 | Journey to Ithaca | 1995 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 12 | Fasting, Feasting | 1999 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 13 | The Zigzag Way | 2004 | Anita Desai | Buy |
| 14 | Rosarita | 2024 | Anita Desai | Buy |
Anita Desai’s fourteen standalone novels span six decades, from her 1963 debut Cry, the Peacock to her 2024 return Rosarita. Her novels are set mostly in India and deal with family conflict, cultural displacement, and the inner lives of characters who feel trapped by their circumstances.
Her early works, including Voices in the City (1965) and Fire on the Mountain (1977), are set in Indian cities and hill stations and focus on women navigating restrictive social roles. Clear Light of Day (1980), set in Old Delhi, follows two sisters coming to terms with family rifts caused by India’s Partition. In Custody (1984) takes a different approach, centering on a Hindi lecturer who becomes entangled in the messy personal life of a dying Urdu poet.
Fasting, Feasting (1999) split its narrative between India and America, contrasting the lives of two siblings on opposite sides of the world. After The Zigzag Way (2004), set in Mexico, Desai went quiet for twenty years before publishing Rosarita in 2024. Her novels reward patient readers who appreciate precise, observational prose over fast-moving plots.