What a Desi Girl Wants

Mehar, our narrator, is the daughter of a journalist mother and an Indian nobleman, a Nawab. Her father has asked she come to India for his impending nuptials. She hesitates as her relationship with him is uncertain but is convinced to go if only to connect with her paternal grandmother.
Upon Mehar’s arrival in India, the paparazzi swoop in to capture images of the nawabzaadi. Her American dress, jeans and a t-shirt are fodder for their mill. Aleena, Mehar’s soon-to-be stepsister, comes to her rescue. Mehar is disgusted with the attention and is unsure of Aleena’s motives.

Mehar’s Dadi (Grandmother) dotes on her and helps her adjust to life as a nawabzaadi. Dadi’s assistant, a young woman named Sufiya, helps Mehar learn the ways of the family, and their friendship blossoms into a romance.

The match between Mehar’s father and Naz, a socialite, creates a rift between Mehar and her father, and Mehar’s concerns about Naz’s intentions for marrying her father lead Mehar to plot to stop the wedding. While coming to terms with Naz and Aleena, Mehar is also learning some of the details affecting her parents’ marriage and breakup.

First person narration always invites the question: is the narrator reliable. The navel gazing chronicle leaves the reader without a balanced perspective. The characters, as seen through Mehar’s eyes, are prosaic. Readers familiar with the 2003 movie What a Girl Wants will see some similarities, but the setting, the characters and the outcomes are unique to Khan’s offering. The entire novel is the buildup to the wedding which readers never attend. The setting is enchanting. The gardens, foods, clothing and lodgings are elegantly portrayed.

The dangers of a Sapphic romance in Indian society are superficially explored. A deeper dive into LGBTQ issues in India would have made What a Desi Girl Wants> a more compelling read. The tidy ending is comforting, but not convincing. As an introduction to the comfortable life of the family of a Nawab, there is value in this offering.

For libraries looking for more Sapphic romances, What a Desi Girl Wants> would be welcome on the shelf.