Haunting Bombay by Shilpa Agarwal is exactly that – a very haunting and engrossing novel with a very gorgeous cover. I am always up for a good ghost story and this book definitely fit the bill for me. From the beginning of the book I was hooked and I just kept turning those pages in an attempt to find out what was going to finally happen. It was a book that kept me on the edge of my seat a bit while giving me shivers up and down my spine.
The novel begins with us learning about Pinky, a thirteen year old girl living with her grandmother, aunt and uncle and her three male cousins. Pinky’s own mother had died when she was just a baby and her grandmother Maji had taken over her care. They are one of the lucky families that have money so Pinky has never known any suffering in that way. However all is not rosey either. Pinky’s aunt does not like her at all for reasons of her own and if not for Maji, who is the head of the family, Pinky would be off in a boarding school.
All her life Pinky has wondered about the bathroom in their house though. It is bolted up nightly and not opened until morning. They are all forbidden to unbolt it yet no one will tell her why. Well one day Pinky becomes upset enough to throw caution to the wind and unbolt that door. By doing this Pinky unlocks secrets from the past along with a ghost bent on getting revenge. From this point things go from bad to worse in the Mittal household taking us on a suspense filled journey right up to the final twist at the end that I wasn’t quite expecting.
There are many things I enjoyed about this novel aside from the ghost story and all the suspenseful elements. I enjoyed reading about the Indian lifestyle a great deal. There are a lot of descriptions of the way the wealthy live and what they are privilege to, their religion, the area itself, and mostly the food. There were so many descriptions of the food they eat that my mouth was watering at how good it all sounded. I felt as though I got carried away to another world which I really did as their lives in India are so much more different than mine and I loved that aspect of the book. It was also interesting to read how much different men and women are treated and how many more opportunities are available to the men.
If I had to say I had a favorite character it would be Pinky. For a young girl she really seemed quite mature in her thoughts and reasoning except of course for opening that forbidden door. However all the characters were well developed even the ghosts and you find yourself caring about them and what their lives had once entailed. I found the book beautifully written and found myself rereading many passages. This is Shilpa Agarwal’s debut novel and if it’s any indication of her writing style then I’m anxious for what she will write next.
I read Haunting Bombay for Shilpa Agarwal’s TLC Book Tour so many thanks to Trish for the opportunity to participate and read this wonderful book. Make sure to pop by Shilpa Agarwal’s website and take a look around. You can buy Haunting Bombay here in the US and here in Canada.
Hope your Ok Dar. How are your dad and Buddy doing?
I had this book on my Friday Finds a few months ago and can't wait to get my hands on it.
WowDar, it sounds like life just sucks for you right now! I hope it gets better for you. My prayers are with you and your family.
This book has been on my list since it was released. Thanks for the great review.
I HOPE you have a good week Dar.
Thanks for the review Dar. I love the cover of this book, and I enjoy reading books that are set in India also. I must admit that when I first heard about the scary element of this book it kind of turned me off. But now my interest has been piqued once again!
It's the right time of year for a good ghost story! Of course, it's a definite plus for me to have detailed food descriptions too!
It's good to see you back up and running Dar! I just love ghost stories. My problem is I have so many of them I want to read, I need about 10 Octobers in a row to get through them! I'm loving the sound of this one!
I'm reading this right now and am not very far along, so I'm glad to see you liked this.
Thanks for such a thoughtful review, Dar! I admit I giggled at "all the characters were well developed even the ghosts", because ghosts? Well developped?
Okay, maybe I'm a little punchy this morning. 🙂
This sounds wonderful. I love reading about life in other cultures.
I'm still reading this book, but I should have it finished in time for my review later this week.
Hi Dar, hope all is well by you 🙂
The cover on this book is beautiful!
And it sounds like a good read.
Great review!
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
The cover is gorgeous! It's the right time of year for a good ghost story. Great review. I'll be on the lookout for this book.
That really is an amazing looking cover and the book sounds good, too. Thanks for the review!
That sounds great, and would you look at that cover!
I'm up for a great ghost story and this one sounds original and that it would fit the bill. Excellent review and another one to add to my HUGE list!!
Another book to include in my radar! Thanks for the wonderful review. I hope things are better for you now. Will continue to pray for you.
Wow, it really sounds great. I love a good ghost story. I will add it to my wishlist. Great review!
I have never read anything that combines a ghost story with Indian fiction, and I think this book sounds very interesting. Great review, I am glad that you liked it and felt such affinity for the protagonist.
I thought this novel was simply beautiful. Great review!
Ghost story plus info about another culture…SOLD! Great review Darlene.
This sounds sooooo great!!! Excellent review! I am going now to put it on my wish list! Thanks, Dar!!
Darlene, Thank you for such a thoughtful review, and it was great to know that you felt such compassion for the ghostly spirits – that was what I had hoped.
The character of Pinky is very dear to my heart as she is inspired by my mom who, like Pinky, became a refugee, survived, and ended up being raised by her grandmother in Bombay. I just wrote a guest blog about this aspect of my book on Literary Feline which will be posted tomorrow.
And everyone else who posted, my heartfelt thanks. I too loved the cover when I first saw it.
Okay I know I've seen this reviewed several places but I sort of skipped over the reviews…yours is the first that made me realize this was a ghost story and piqued my interest! 🙂
I think this is a wonderful book, too. Nice review as well!
Thank you for your wonderful review, Dar. I'm finally catching up now that I've got my review up. 🙂 I so enjoyed this book.