Miss New India by Bharati Mukherjee is a novel about the changing face of India, especially Bangalore, the call center of the world. This is the first of Mukherjee’s novels that I have read, but it won’t be the last.

We follow Anjali/Angie Bose from her small town of Gauripur to the big city of Bangalore, and a world she has no idea how to navigate. Mukerjee is brilliant at depicting a changing India, where young people-girls especially- are desperately trying to break out of the traditional roles expected of them (ie arranged marriages) and find a life of freedom and happiness and financial independence on their own.

Sometimes the plot wore thin, and not all of the characters were developed as much as I would have liked, but it is still a fascinating and timely novel that I enjoyed reading.