Unfortunately, some people are family.

Malti Patel is absolutely fine. Concussed and bruised, maybe, but fine. Certainly fine enough to not need her daughter's soon-to-be-ex-husband, Nathan Whitlock, playing nurse in her home while she recuperates. And yet her doctor insists on in-home supervision for seven days, and with her daughter, Kavya, studying in India, Nathan proves too much of a do-gooder to let Malti rehabilitate alone.

They want nothing to do with one another. But over the course of the week, as Malti grapples with the shadows of her past and Nathan ponders the wreckage of his marriage, they learn that they are the two people who know Kavya best - and the ones who have hurt her so deeply that she's left them both entirely.

Curtis Sittenfeld meets The Odd Couple: Women’s Prize-longlisted author Parini Shroff returns in a witty, heartfelt look at initially unwanted but ultimately nurtured connection across cultural and generational divides.