The Right Sort of Girl: The Sunday Times Bestseller

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I felt like I was driving along a road and suddenly I'd turn off, drive for ages along a very detailed cul-de-sac, just to whip back up the way I came and head back onto the main road for a while before the next extremely detailed diversion. This story of a second-generation British Indian woman up north is also a tale of tenacity and a life lived with positivity and humour.

It didn't help that I found Sid to be an obnoxious know-it-all he liked nothing more than to lecture Baby - from the very first moment they met he was telling her she was wrong - who needs a substitute-Daddy? Baby is sparky and funny, as is the dialogue, and this delightful novel is threaded with humour, wit and comedy. And although her own opportunities are a million miles away from previous generations’ (Rani’s parents had an arranged marriage, after meeting for the first time at Heathrow Airport) in the past she’s “definitely” been a people pleaser.How did she manage to become the powerhouse she is, whilst battling against being too white inside her home, too brown outside of it? The book is a proper memoir, too, taking us through from Rani’s early years to her work as a presenter through chapter titles that also give succinct advice: “Families are Never Simple,” “Be Your Own Superhero When You Can,” “Yorkshire Will Always Take Your Breath Away”.

I want them to see me for me, but I also want them to see that Asian women can be something more than just smart and trustworthy and clever and square.She is a lead presenter on Country file, hosts Woman's Hour on Radio 4 every week and regularly presents on Radio 2. I think it's a generational issue where the older generation prefer not to talk about certain things or family issues that happened in the past but the newer generation are more inquisitive and want to learn more. I loved Baby’s relationship with her Dadima because it reminded me a lot of my relationship with my Ajima (maternal grandmother). It resulted in “second guessing what people wanted, always wanting to make sure that other people feel alright… and that comes from watching the women in my world facilitate everybody else before themselves”.

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. Instead, this novel takes a magnifying glass to the media’s response to tragic incidents, especially where ‘troubled’ families are involved.After years of banging the drum for women, bestselling author, columnist, feminist and social commentator Caitlin Moran has turned her attention to men and their challenges – and indeed, she reveals many in this examination of their insecurities, anxieties and challenges. When Maharaja Duleep Singh died, the British kind of saw their opportunity to take over and annex this great state of Punjab.