Haunting Bombay - A Novel

Shilpa Agarwal

Summary

This San Francisco Chronicle bestseller is “[an] intriguing debut [that] seeks to give voice to the dispossessed through the supernatural” (USA Today).   After her mother’s death crossing the border from Pakistan to India during Partition, baby Pinky was taken in by her grandmother, Maji, the matriarch of the powerful Mittal family. Now thirteen years old, Pinky lives with her grandmother and her uncle’s family in a bungalow on the Malabar Heights in Bombay. While she has never really been accepted by her uncle’s family, she has always had Maji’s love.   One day, as monsoons engulf the city, Pinky opens a mysteriously bolted door, unleashing the ghosts of an infant who drowned shortly before Pinky’s arrival and of the nursemaid who cared for the child. Now, three generations of the Mittal family must struggle to come to terms with their secrets amidst hidden shame, forbidden love, and a call for absolute sacrifice.   “In her stunning debut novel Shilpa Agarwal takes on the ghosts that bedevil young Pinky Mittal’s extended family and dispatches them with rambunctious wit and affection. The result is like finely wrought mirror work, a glittering tapestry of vibrant contradictions, characters, and mysteries. Haunting Bombay flirts deliciously with the true spirit of India.” —Aimee Liu, author of Flash House   “Will definitely appeal to fans of Monica Ali and Jhumpa Lahiri. . . . Fresh, original.” —Library Journal

Available since: 04/01/2009.

Print length: 368 pages.

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