"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 grandfather refuses to forgive his own son. As Sukanya negotiates this emotional dilemma, she unwittingly becomes a central character in the elopement of another couple in the neighborhood. With history repeating itself, will the family stay as rigid as they did is what the story is about. Add to it a mix of interesting characters - a student neta who spouts Shakespeare is my favourite - caste and political tensions and you can't stop turning the pages.
The narrative is evocative and you begin to empathize with the characters (including the ones that are total misfits in today's modern environment). And perhaps that's the biggest learning for Sukanya...the home is not a place of perfection but a place where the heart resides despite all its imperfections. 
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