Madhu Gurung’s The Keeper of Memories stays true to its evocative title and through remembered lives, legends, rites and rituals, infuses the historical migration of the Gorkhas into north-eastern India with a keen though entirely unsentimental family intimacy.

From the blurb: "In the winter of her life, Dharamshila, the keeper of memories of her family of brave Gorkha warriors, tells her grandchildren the story of their ancestors who came from Nepal as conquerors and fought the British in the Khalanga War in Dehradun. As the family makes India its home, the sons embark on their own journeys, each more varied than the other – spanning Japanese prison camps in Singapore, Chindit operations in Burma, the adrenaline rush of football clubs in Calcutta and the arc lights of the film industry in Bombay."