Book Review: Meet Me In Mumbai by Sabina Khan

The novel opens with us meeting Ayesha, eighteen years in the past. I first thought that we’d see the book bouncing between past and present, but we see the past merge into the present fluidly in one go, which was a lot less confusing than some other past/present type books. Ayesha is a young Indian girl living with in Indiana, USA, for her last year of high school. She’s made some friends, but still feels pretty out of place from everything she knows and loves back home, but finds a lot to love here, too. One night, she meets a boy named Suresh, and over the course of days spent together, getting to know one another, falls head over heels for him. He’s also a Mumbai native, and they bond over this and many other things over the timeline of their short, yet magnetic relationship.

Soon, Ayesha falls pregnant. She panics, like I’m sure anyone in her position would. She’s faced with the what will they think stereotype of pressure, and over many confused and emotional months, decides to put her baby up for adoption. Fast forward eighteen years and we meet Mira, Ayesha’s biological daughter, who has grown up in a predominantly white community with her Moms. She loves her life, her family and friends, but she can’t ignore that she longs to feel like she belongs and to know her roots. So when she finds letters from Ayesha, it opens up an opportunity for the two of them to meet in India—for Mira to find the answers she’s searching for, and for Ayesha to tell her biological daughter the reasons why it had to be this way.

Overall, Meet Me In Mumbai was this sunflower-type of read. I felt like the sun was always on me when I was reading it, casting a golden light of healing, warmth and emotion. I felt each ounce of growth, heartache and strength that Sabina wrote, and most times couldn’t put it down. I did love Ayesha’s POV a lot more than Mira’s, connecting a lot more with the more “mature” sounding voice. I thoroughly adored the setting and how Sabina also broke down harmful stereotypes, which was a really refreshing thing to read in YA. This was such a heart-warming, deep novel that explores the bond of family, the pain of letting go and ways time—and all it’s tangled ways—heals wounds. A sparkling four and a half stars!