“Her eyes said good morning as her hands caressed my hair making sure I was with her in the flesh and not just a voice over the phone. Often, I wouldn’t let her turn the light on or even part the curtains at that sacred hour. Those Mumbai mornings were exclusively ours.”

Mumbai Mornings is centered mostly on conversations between the protagonist Saya and her mother. As her mother’s stories about relatives long relegated to memory unfold, it soon becomes evident to her daughter that no life is ordinary. Etched in grim reality, touched with compassion, Mumbai Mornings moves seamlessly from present to past, from pre-partition Karachi to present day India, casting an unsparing eye on the foibles of fathers and daughters, sons and lovers. In the end, this is a book about ambitious, vulnerable men and women striving for beauty and longing for redemption.

Mumbai Mornings

"Engaging colorful stories connected by family and differentiated by setting...displays a gift for revealing character, history, and culture through powerful vignettes."

-Kirkus Reviews

"Chawla uses words as a canvas to so beautifully describe settings and emotions so that the reader can easily feel themselves transported into the stories. A gem of a book."

-Amazon Review

"You feel like you are standing right there next to her characters while some superbly dramatic and often rather thought provoking events unfold. Her descriptions are enough to bring you to the giant that is India (a character in itself) and make you feel right at home..."

-Amazon Review

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