People like to refer to my work as hyper realism, but I don't think so," says botanical illustrator Nirupa Rao, who is the talk of the art world, because of her enchanting illustration on Amitav Ghosh's new novel, Gun Island. The book cover, which has a swirling snake, adorned with flowers from the Sundarbans — where the book is set — has a photographic quality. "I don't see my style as photo realistic. I would rather describe it as surreal or lambent [glowing]. And isn't that true of nature as well?," asks the 29-year-old from Bengaluru.

Her description isn't misplaced. Her work for the cover of Gun Island, and three of Ghosh's re-jacketed books — mangrove leaves and a dainty boat on the cover of The Hungry Tide, a fish wrapped in pages with Bengali script for The Calcutta Chromosome and migrating birds on The Circle of Reason — are as dream-like, as they seem real.