Following up on last week’s review of novelist’s Priyanka Khanna’s reading, here is a Q&A with the author herself:
Q: What was your favorite class at Hamilton/what was the most useful class (if any)?
A: All the sociology classes taught by Professor Dan Chambliss, who I was lucky to also have as thesis advisor. Probably the most engaging teacher I have been taught by. His oral examinations were incredibly useful — they made me a lot more confident about public speaking and thinking on the spot. I also loved my photography class where we spent time in the darkroom developing our prints. I wasn’t very good at it, but enjoyed it nonetheless.
Q: Were there any specific events or people that inspired elements of your book?
A: So, the financial fraud storyline was inspired by an article I read on Bernie Madoff in
The Cut
that questioned how his sons didn’t know about the elaborate Ponzi scam. I realized that in a certain section of Indian society, especially amongst the business families, often the women are the last to know what’s really going on. There have been too many stories of women signing over their rights without realizing based on familial trust, though the financial fraud in this book was not inspired by any particular event in India and was written several years before some of them came to light.
Q: Have your reading preferences influenced your writing at all?
A: Yes, so much! Whether it was the
Malory Towers
series as a child, or the books I’ve read as a student and then as an adult — from Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kamila Shamsie, Taylor Jenkins Reid and Curtis Sittenfeld. I am a voracious reader, and every book sparks a new thought.
Q: Why the realistic fiction genre?/ If you were to write another novel, do you think you would write in the same genre or do something new?
A: I wanted to write a fast-paced, dynamic book on the changing nature of Indian society. The women I’ve written about come from immense privilege and have choices, but there is still a friction between what they want to do and what they are expected to do. I wanted to bring that to light, but also write a novel with an element that pokes fun at the fabulous, over-the-top lives of India’s wealthiest. If someone says they binge read my book, that is the biggest compliment because that means you found it compelling enough to stay off Instagram or the streamers to read, and what more can an author today ask for? I hope there are more stories for me to tell in this genre!
