Good Girl

Good Girl draws a throughline between familial abuse and oppressive societies/governments, utilising the backdrop of the protests that erupted in India in 2019 after an unjust immigration law was enacted. The novel is narrated by a young woman with a seemingly perfect life who compulsively cheats on her husband. Her father’s death takes her to her childhood home in Guwahati and offers some answers in revived memories of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. She goes back to Mumbai but finds herself increasingly alienated from her old life. Filled with rage and despair, she starts fantasising about killing herself. The passing of an unjust immigration law jolts her out of her stupor. She throws herself into protests, finding an outlet for her love for her city and her eagerness to be part of a community. But she has to lose everything—her job, her husband, her friends, the illusion of a relationship with her mother, and come close to losing herself—before she can regain hope.