Baby Does A Runner

I was drawn to the book by its vibrant striking cover and was expecting a fairly generic romcom but ‘Baby Does A Runner’ was so much more, a beautifully heartfelt and personal tale that covers family, both those that are close and those on the other side of the world, your ancestors and their experiences and how that resonates in you, wrapped up with trying to find out who you are and what your place is in the world.

Baby is in her mid-thirties, stuck in a fairly mundane PR job in Manchester, in a situationship with a colleague, despite her mother’s attempts to encourage her to settle down. Baby knows she needs to make some life changes but is unsure what to do. She finds some old love letters to her grandfather from his first wife, who Baby had never heard about, and discovers that her grandfather had had a family before he’d left India. Baby feels this is a sign she needs to go and investigate what happened to his first family and connect with her personal history.

She starts her journey in the bosom of her family, staying with her aunty and cousins. I loved this part of the book, with Baby’s assumptions about life in modern India being challenged at every corner, and the way that her aunt and cousins immediately enveloped her in love and acceptance.

Their close neighbour Sid (tall, dark, handsome, natch) offers to accompany Baby to Amritsar to find out more about her family. Their long car journey is stilted at first but they get used to one another, even surviving a night at a farm in the middle of the countryside when Sid’s car breaks down.

Sid is keen to share his knowledge about Indian history with Baby, sometimes mocking her (unnecessarily I felt) for not knowing her own history. Through a combination of his insights and her own learning, Baby learns more about Partition, and how this brutal part of India’s colonial history ripped families including her own apart. I know almost nothing about Partition and am definitely inspired to find out more having read this book.
I felt a connection with Baby’s search to find out more about her family’s past; as the first generation of children of parents who left their home country, I feel the sense of loss at not knowing my own history, and felt happy for Baby that her bravery on her own journey solidified her sense of self and her appreciation for all of the generations that have been before.

This all makes it sound quite heavy but it’s a much lighter book than it might seem – and of course, there’s the blossoming romance with Sid....

Well worth a read!

Broadcaster Anita Rani has written an interesting and engaging novel. I enjoyed it very much and particularly details relating to Baby’s family. Baby lives on her own and has an unsatisfactory career. She’s not happy with her life but doesn’t want an arranged marriage. She then finds a family secret and decides to go to India

I wasn’t sure what this book was about but sounded interesting. I’ll admit I couldn’t see where it was going and debated giving up on it. But about a third of the way in it suddenly all fell into place and was a very interesting read about family history of India and Pakistan during the time of Partition, which I had no knowledge of. It opened my eyes to the horrendous struggles of families during this time and I felt was very well written.

I am a white Irish woman in her 20's so even though the story was about an Indian woman in her 30's the themes translated beautifully into my own life. Rani paints such a beautiful picture of how difficult some Indian women have to find their place in the world without getting married. The character of Baby was so interesting and complex and I found myself always rooting for her. Her difficulties of people pleasing and giving everything to people who don't reciprocate is accurate.

I really enjoyed her journey to connecting with herself and I will read another book by Rani. She is a talented author who sucks you into her world.

I love any book with British Asian characters at the helm, so Anita Rani's offering appealed straight away.
Baby Does A Runner is a brilliant story about Baby, or Simran; a British-born Sikh woman who is single, in her 30s and struggling a bit with not getting the same opportunities in life as her male counterparts at work, and with the loss of her father.
A secret revealed during a trip home sparks the interest in a fact-finding mission back to the motherland, though it is labelled as a bit of an Eat. Pray, Love type trip.
Baby learns so much about her own feelings as an Indian abroad, as well as one whose family lost so much during the partition. The reason for her trip bears fruit she wasn't expecting in many forms, with truths being exposed, as well as the possibility of a little romance along the way.
So many things dealt with here, but Anita has joined the wave of authors, bringing the voice of British-Asians to the literary front, giving us characters and situations we can relate to.
I thoroughly enjoyed this!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Books for an ARC.

An incredibly satisfying novel. Baby Saul is tired of her job in advertising and marketing, in which she is routinely ignored and not promoted. A visit to Bradford for her birthday leads to her finding some secret letters to her late grandfather from a woman named Naseeb, and she set sabout trying to find out what happened, including a journey of self-discovery back to India. There's nothing completely original here, but the fluidity and confidence of the author's voice drew me in, meaning I was glued to the pages from the very start. The story was also educational, outlining what families experienced during the violence of Partition. I'd thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who fancies a good read.

Baby does a runner is a real treat of a book.
I was interested to see how Anita Rani writes and found - so well I hated putting the book down.
Its easy way it Is like good chick-lit byt then it hooks you in and takes over your mind.

Instead of being written as a worthy, historical tome it is a genrle stroll through modern culture by a local Bradford lass about another Bradford lass. It explains worship and hospitality rituals incidentally so doesnt hinder the flow of the story.
Once Baby decides to go to India it continues to explain what she sees, tastes and experiences. How she finds Sid attractive (don't we all!) Whilst on her quest to unearth history.

A while ago the author was the subject of an Who Do You Think You Are? episode. She too unravelled some of the unspoken history of Partition. It was a gruelling journey and she uses this so well to take Baby there and leave her to delve into her own past.
I particularly liked how amidst the scenic wonders Baby passes we hear her bum is suffering by the Indian style of driving!
It doesn't get too heavy but shows us a time when men turned into monsters and destroyed their neighbours of long acquaintance whilst the women coped i. Their. Own ways although inevitability unrecorded as they did so.

A thoroughly enjoyable story.
I loved Anita's style and I loved the main character - Baby, a British-born Sikh woman.
Baby isn't happy with her life. She feels she is being put upon at work and she is fed up with her mother and all the Aunties trying to set up an arranged marriage, which she is adamant she doesn't want.
Following the discovery of some love letters to her grandfather from an unknown woman, she decides to go to India and find out about her grandfather's first wife.
In looking for her family's secrets, she learns about Partition, the atrocities that took place and how families including her own, were torn apart. A difficult subject to take on, but Anita handles it with great sensitivity.
There are many layers to this story, including romance, Indian culture and some gorgeous food descriptions.
The author had me in stitches one minute and in tears the next.
Highly recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC.