"This was the small town dream -- to escape it at all costs, until they did, and then spent their lives being homesick for it." The line in the opening pages aptly captures the theme of Parul Sharma's book. Somewhere in between the "leaving" and the "longing to return", we get to experience the multiple layers of real human relationships with all its messy emotions. Parul Sharma's fictional Bulandwada could be any small town in India. Sukanya, born and bred in London, has grown up hearing stories of Bulandwada from her father. But unlike other NRI kids she has been deprived of the love of her maternal and paternal grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins because her parents dared to defy traditional norms and eloped. However with her Dadi (Badi Mummy) nearing the end of her life, she wants to meet Sukanya. The girl arrives in Bulandwada and is instantly enveloped by her father's family as one of their own. But despite accepting her, her grandf...