This is fascinating. Centred round a Cambridge charity shop supporting an Indian village, it unfolds slowly in slices of the volunteer’s lives; delightful caricatures that build to reveal a plot. However it’s their philosophy, hopes and acceptance of life that really shine through in this quietly hypnotic novel, very much another in The Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency territory.
It's Cambridge. Not college or chapel, but the shop 'IndiaNeed' on colourful Mill Road. Nothing should go wrong on a normal day, but everything does. How was an adult video of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs sold with the Lego? Disaster, death and romance appear on the menu as three women of Indian origin and a fierce Irishwoman battle their arrogant Armani-clad English employer. Will the bungling heroines survive despite lovers, husbands and eccentric customers?
"Beautifully observed ...warm and poignant ... a delightful debut novel" - Meera Syal
"Unusual and provocative ... if you like a read with chuckles, this is it!" - Ronald Wolfe, Writing Comedy
Author
About Saumya Balsari
Saumya Balsari was born in India, has travelled widely and lives in Cambridge. She has worked as a free-lance journalist in London covering lifestyle and environmental issues for Indian print media, and is a humour columnist. Her play The Curry Club for Kali Theatre had a reading at the Soho Theatre, London, in 2003. Her first novel is being seen in various countries as an essential reference work for new writing in postcolonial literature. She is currently completing a novel for young adults and a book of poems for children.
