What an absolutely gorgeous book! Especially for a debut novel, the book is beautifully written and completely engrossing. I really didn't know anything about this book going into it, except that it was set in India. Not much to go on  there. For whatever reason, I thought this was going to be a work a flog-fiction and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't! It certainly had hard and dark moments, and yes, I cried more than once, but overall it wasn't a sad or difficult book. Overall, it was hopeful. It was about overcoming societal barriers, both from a caste point of view and as a woman. I loved how nuanced each and every relationship was, and that no one character was all good or all bad. The main character, Lakshmi, was a complicated yet loveable protagonist. I constantly rooted for her even when she reacted in unfortunate ways and made terrible decisions. It just made her that much more real to me. We are flawed, but we try our best. We make mistakes. We redirect. We try again. We fail a lot. We succeed. And life goes on.