Bombay Girl
Author: Kavita Daswani
Price: Rs. 199
Sohana Badshah personifies a class of Indians that has enough money to jet set and travel across oceans, abandon a London education mid-way because of a break up and have the chance to lunch and brunch at five-star hotels day in and day out.
From this description the Bombay Girl might sound a Gossip Girl-style read, an indulgent luxurious drama, but, author Kavita Daswani makes the book a wholesome experience, backed by potboiler suspense. Sohana is the heiress to the Badshah family, a Mumbai industrial giant. When the very private family is 'outed' by a newspaper as one of the wealthiest in the country, a business drama follows, complete with the head of the family, Sohana's 'Baba' - who is disturbed by the exploitation of the family's low-key status - deciding to give the reigns to his grandchildren, once they prove themselves worthy.
The book takes up issues like infidelity, regressive position of women in a 'modern' family and business relations, with a backdrop of insomniac Mumbai - from Matunga to Marine Drive. The book is an easy read, and the first in the series that you shouldn't miss.