Babyji

A sexy, subversive novel about a schoolgirl and her quest to conquer love and life ‘Anamika Sharma is the kind of girl you always hated: she gets perfect grades and, as head prefect of her school in Delhi, has vast authority over her classmates. But Anamika’s extracurricular activities are far from exemplary: she is at the center of a love triangle between a lower-caste house servant and an educated, older divorcee. On top of that, she begins serious flirtations with the most popular girl in school, the father of her best friend and the local bad boy. Anamika’s amorous indiscretions provide a colorful backdrop to her questions about morality, gender roles and social rank in modern India, resulting in a tantalizing and sophisticated coming-of-age story’ —Newsweek ‘An impressive balance between moral inquiry and decadent pleasure’ —Publishers Weekly ‘From the moment Abha Dawesar dropped me slap-bang into the middle of Anamika’s complicated life, I found myself fascinated. How often does one encounter a sixteen-year-old who applies her preternatural intellect not only to her far-ranging sexual conquests but also to quantum physics and Indiaís complex caste politics? Irreverent yet tender, compassionate yet hard-hearted, precociously wise and undeniably sexy, Dawesar’s Anamika channels a wonderful new Indian reality. More power to her’ —Meera Nair, author of Video ‘An intelligent, thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable read’ —India Currents ‘What you’ll love: Fervid scenes of sexual discovery and the fevered vagaries of Anamika’s adolescent mind shimmer in unabashed detail’ —The Washington Post