Six Days in Bombay - Audiobook Review

Title: Six Days in Bombay

Author: Alka Joshi

Genre: Historical Fiction

Happy Pub Day 4/15

{As a part of ‘The Hive’ (@htp_hive) I am generously #gifted access to titles on @netgalley.  They’ve been adding more and more audiobooks and I was thrilled to see Six Days in Bombay as a choice via harlequin audio.  It’s no secret that I love audiobooks, but especially cultural ones.  Narrator Sneha Mathan was phenomenal!}

Part coming-of-age of in the late 1930s of a young Anglo-Indian Nurse, Sona. 

“My dreams were cobwebs spun from gold.”

Part adventure and grief—After Sona loses her mother and a famous artist patient, Mira, Sona travels to Praque, Florence, and Paris to deliver artwork from Mira based on a note she left behind.  Sona also decides to venture to London to meet her English father who deserted her and her mother in India many years ago.

“What would my life be like if I could break free of this cage?”

Part mystery—If Mira’s death was an accident, how could she have written a note ahead of time giving instructions of who, what and where to deliver her art too.  All of these special people in Mira’s life she told stories to Sona while she was in the hospital.

“She considered her otherness a source of pride.  She flaunted it, like a peacock’s train.  It made her special.  It made her an artist.  A painter.  I, on the other hand, wore my otherness like a scratchy blouse that I couldn’t wait to take off at the end of the day.”

Part examination of Indian vs. Anglo Indian women, when Sona and Rebecca—both Anglo Indian women—work along side an Indian woman who is being domestically abused and trapped in a marriage because of her children.

“We are protected.  We can do things Indian woman can’t” . . . “I know.  But if we don’t try to help, what good is our privilege."

My gosh is author, Alka Joshi, a phenomenal story teller.  This book almost felt like two parts to me with the first half being the six days that Sona takes care of her mother, witnesses her friend being abused, losing her mother and learning more details about her absent father.  Then the second half is all the traveling Sona goes on.  The writing is rich and vivid.  And has excellent character growth.  This was a solid read that I highly recommend!