The Right Sort of Girl: The Sunday Times Bestseller

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Following the discovery of some love letters to her grandfather from an unknown woman, she decides to go to India and find out about her grandfather's first wife. Fizzing with energy, hilarity and charm, The Right Sort of Girl is a coming-of-age story of identity. Baby also realises how lacking the British school history curriculum is given the diversity of our country and the fact that for 300 years, Britain’s main focus was India and the Empire, with Britain’s historical wealth, development and achievements made on the back of India, yet all that is taught in British schools are ‘two world wars and how great the Victorians were’. Baby hasn't been to India since she was a child and holds many common misconceptions about her ancestral homeland, a fact that her auntie's neighbour Sid takes great pleasure in disabusing, accusing her of undertaking some kind of Eat, Pray, Love journey and mocking her for her assumptions about how backward India would be compared to London. How did she manage to become the powerhouse she is, whilst battling against being too white inside her home and too brown outside of it?

Still mourning the loss of her father, Baby just wants a quiet birthday, but her mother and Dadima have other ideas. She’s also put up with sexism and racism as she’s gone through life, although she has now started to speak out and found strength from speaking truth to power.It’s not a frothy celebrity autobiography, but a solid, useful, decent book that will actively help people, much like its author.

He's dead and we only know of him in relation to Baby's deep grief and love for him; Ranjeet is long gone and we never read his letters back to Naseeb, we only know about his character from her. I loved Baby’s relationship with her Dadima because it reminded me a lot of my relationship with my Ajima (maternal grandmother). Vick Hope is joined by radio and television presenter Anita Rani for this week’s Bookshelfie podcast episode.It was a gruelling journey and she uses this so well to take Baby there and leave her to delve into her own past.