Such Big Dreams

March 1, 2022
Making an appealing debut, Canadian lawyer Patel draws on her experiences at a nongovernmental organization in India to follow the fortunes of Justice For All, a financially strapped human rights agency, where underpaid lawyers toil mightily to represent the poor of Mumbai. Cynical, street-smart Rakhi is the agency's 23-year-old office assistant whose menial tasks include taking care of a changing cast of na�ve interns, who, she remarks, "come here wanting to fix India and leave after two stomach bugs, whining about how much they miss clean air and something they call almond milk." Rakhi was hired by the agency's director, Gauri, who first met her at a girls' school where she had been remanded after living on the streets for 5 years--an experience that Patel recounts in gritty detail. Learning about Rakhi's childhood--abandonment, hunger, physical harm--Gauri was astonished by the girl's fierce spirit and intelligence: "Every door had been slammed in your face," she tells Rakhi, "and yet there you were, still surviving." When Rakhi turns 18, Gauri gives her a job that, she thinks, will grant the girl "another chance at life"; but for Rakhi, working for Gauri seems, instead, like another incarceration. Paid a pittance, she lives in a slum of "open sewers, monsoon floods," and teeming "multilevel hutments"; and furthermore, Gauri monitors her every move. Rakhi's longing for a different future and Gauri's desperate effort to keep her agency afloat make them vulnerable to two characters--vivid though stereotypical--who seem to offer an answer to their dreams: a well-connected Canadian intern bound for Harvard's Kennedy School who takes an outsized interest in Rakhi's life; and a fading Bollywood star, hoping to revive her career, who promises to lure big donors in exchange for becoming the "public face" of the NGO. A sharply drawn protagonist gives this novel power and zest.

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Starred review from April 4, 2022
Patel’s riveting debut examines the exploitive class structure in Mumbai and the pitfalls for those on the lower rung. Rakhi Kumar, a former street child, now works as the assistant to Gauri Verma, executive director of a human rights NGO who took Rakhi out of the Asha Home for Destitute Girls into a decent life. Burdened by the favor, Rakhi waits on Gauri hand and foot while performing menial tasks and overlooking the condescending treatment she consistently receives at the office. Repeatedly undermined, especially by interns visiting from foreign countries, Rakhi is surprised when Alex Lalwani-Diamond, a Harvard-bound Canadian intern, begins to seek her opinions and expertise as a local. Soon an unlikely friendship develops, and Alex encourages Rakhi to apply for college, offering to help with applications in exchange for a tour of the “Real India.” Meanwhile, Gauri’s NGO struggles financially and she surprises everyone by forming an alliance with Rubina Mansoor, a former Bollywood actor looking to become relevant again. Organizational dissent ensues, loyalties are tested, and as Rakhi’s past catches up to her, she discovers the cost of placing faith in others and chasing borrowed dreams. With a captivating arc and solid character development, the story highlights the impact of greed in a poverty-stricken Mumbai. It’s a powerful debut. Agent: Stephanie Sinclair, CookeMcDermid.

April 15, 2022
Rakhi grew up on the streets of Mumbai with a ragtag group of kids before being remanded to a girls' home for her part in the death of a local street vendor. There, she caught the eye of Gauri, a renowned human rights lawyer who took a personal, if controlling, interest in her education and rehabilitation. Now Rakhi works as an office assistant at Gauri's firm, making tea and supervising the rotating staff of do-gooder foreign interns. The latest, Alex, is different from the rest; half-Canadian and half-Indian, he comes from a wealthy Mumbai family with famous friends, including has-been actress Rubina Mansoor. Alex enlists Rakhi to show him "the real India," while Rubina finagles her way into becoming the law firm's celebrity spokesperson. The collision of these two worlds has consequences that reverberate beyond the firm and lead Rakhi to question her past and present relationships. Debut novelist Patel vividly portrays the many strata of Mumbai, from the streets to the slums to the upper echelons, through the eyes of a young woman seeking control of her own future.

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