Madhulika was born in Assam, where her father (a former IPS officer) was posted. After completing a diploma in hotel management, Madhulika worked for 14 years in the corporate world, before moving into writing, full-time. Her first success was a short story, ‘A Morning Swim’ that won the Overall Prize at the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association’s Short Story Prize in 2003, making Madhulika the first Indian to win the award.
Madhulika’s first novel, The Englishman’s Cameo, was published in 2009. This is the first book of the Muzaffar Jang series, about a 17th century Mughal detective. The series includes a collection of short stories (The Eighth Guest and Other Muzaffar Jang Mysteries) and two novels, Engraved in Stone and Crimson City. All four books have proved popular, with a television series based on them in the offing. From 2022 onwards, Delhi University has included Crimson City in its curriculum for students majoring in English.
Madhulika’s interest in history also comes through in The Delhi Quartet series. This is a saga about interconnected families against a backdrop of 800 years of Delhi’s history. The first book of the series, The Garden of Heaven, was published in 2021 to critical acclaim, and made it to the longlist of the Tata Lit Live Book of the Year Award, 2022.
Other books of Madhulika’s include the two-book fantasy series, The Mandala Purana, written with film-maker Kannan Iyer (of Ek Thi Daayan fame); various collections of short stories, and a non-fiction book on the gardens of Delhi, co-written with her sister, Swapna Liddle, an eminent historian.
Besides this, Madhulika also writes extensively on food, travel, and old cinema. Her blog, www.madhulikaliddle.com, has been focussing on classic cinema (especially Hindi cinema) for the past 15 years. Madhulika Liddle, author, is married to Tarun Bhandari, son of Mr and Mrs AP Bhandari of Flat no. 8166. Madhulika and Tarun have a nine-year old daughter, Lara, and live in Noida.
