{"id":4833,"date":"2020-01-06T23:45:44","date_gmt":"2020-01-06T18:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/?p=4833"},"modified":"2020-04-09T11:35:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T06:05:02","slug":"shiniest-debuts-of-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/shiniest-debuts-of-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Shiniest Debuts of 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
I have been spending a lot of time with my family this year\u2014there\u2019s good and bad that comes out this arrangement\u2014and I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that families in debuts have been closer to my heart this year. Families of varied sizes and kinds\u2014big, small, suffocating, accusatory, we\u2019ve-got-your-back, partial-to-favourites\u2014feature in novels in 2019. My favourite among this lot is the D\u2019Cunhas of Bombay Balch\u00e3o<\/strong><\/em> by Jane Borges<\/em>. Set in an apartment building in Cavel, a Catholic majority town in South Bombay, there\u2019s much to laugh about, giggle and assimilate in this novel. On one hand I was splitting my sides laughing about tantriks in Bollywood-style garb preparing for exorcism, water battles in Mumbai apartments (Oh, if your heart lies in Mumbai, you\u2019ll know exactly how worked up I got in that chapter), giving away to the temptation of meat and sex during Lent, the eloping bride who becomes a clairvoyant widow and so much more. I lived and breathed Mumbai in this novel, gulped down bits of history\u2014seven decades of it, no less\u2014and found myself mapping places and landmarks in the novel and history to my own days roaming around the city. It is a crackling, hilarious romp\u2014read it.<\/p>\n