Such Big Dreams
Reema Patel
(Author)
Description
A savvy former street child working at a law office in Mumbai fights for redemption and a chance to live life on her own terms in this "smart, haunting, and compulsively readable" (Amy Jones, author of We're All in This Together) debut novel about fortune and survival. "A page-turner of a story that doesn't shy away from exploring hard and painful truths about the way people navigate the systemic conditions of society."--Zalika Reid-Benta, author of Frying PlantainRakhi is a twenty-three-year-old haunted by the grisly aftermath of an incident that led to the loss of her best friend eleven years ago. Constantly reminded she doesn't belong, Rakhi lives alone in a Mumbai slum, working as a lowly office assistant at Justice For All, a struggling human-rights law organization headed by the renowned lawyer who gave her a fresh start. Fiercely intelligent and in possession of a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue, Rakhi is nobody's fool, even if she is underestimated by everyone around her. Rakhi's life isn't much, but she's managing. That is, until Rubina Mansoor, a fading former Bollywood starlet, tries to edge her way back into the spotlight by becoming a celebrity ambassador for Justice For All. Steering the organization into uncharted territories, she demands an internship for Alex, a young family friend from Canada and Harvard-bound graduate student. Ambitious, persistent, and naïve, Alex persuades Rakhi to show him "the real" India. In exchange, he'll do something to further Rakhi's dreams in a transaction that seems harmless, at first. As old guilt and new aspirations collide, everything Rakhi once knew to be true is set ablaze. And as the stakes mount, she will come face-to-face with the difficult choices and moral compromises that people make in order to survive, no matter the cost. Reema Patel's transportive debut novel offers a moving, smart, and arrestingly clever look at the cost of ambition and power in reclaiming one's story.
Product Details
Price
$27.00
$25.11
Publisher
Ballantine Books
Publish Date
May 10, 2022
Pages
336
Dimensions
6.46 X 9.49 X 1.21 inches | 1.2 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780593499504
Earn by promoting books
Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.
About the Author
Reema Patel holds a BA from McGill University and a JD from the University of Windsor. After working in Mumbai in the youth non-profit sector and in human-rights advocacy, she has spent the past ten years working in provincial and municipal government. An excerpt from Such Big Dreams, her first novel, won the Penguin Random House Student Award for Fiction at the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies. She lives in Toronto, where she currently works as a lawyer.