Such Big Dreams

A Novel

By: Reema Patel

Narrated by: Lavanya Gandhi

A savvy former street child working at a human rights law office in Mumbai fights for redemption and a chance to live life on her own terms in this fresh, propulsive debut novel about fortune and survival. Named a Loan Stars Top Ten Pick, a CBC Canadian Fiction title to watch, one of Audible's Best Debuts of 2022, and an Amazon Best Book of 2022.

With a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue, Rakhi Kumar is nobody’s fool. Though she lives alone in a Mumbai slum and works as a lowly office assistant for the renowned lawyer, Gauri Verma, who gave her a fresh start, Rakhi has come a long way from her time as a former street child. Most importantly, she's busy enough to distract herself from the nightmares of the grisly incident that led to the disappearace of her best friend.

Fiercely intelligent, Rakhi could be doing so much more than making chai, but she allows herself to be underestimated by her colleagues at Justice For All, Gauri's cash-strapped human rights law office. Rakhi's life isn't much, but she's managing. That is until a fading former Bollywood starlet tries to edge her way back into the spotlight by becoming a celebrity ambassador for Justice For All. Steering the organization into uncharted territories, she demands an internship for her young Canadian family friend, Alex, a Harvard-bound graduate student. An ambitious, naive rich kid, Alex persuades Rakhi to show him the "real" India. In exchange, he’ll do something to further Rakhi’s dreams in a transaction that seems harmless, at first.

As old guilt and new aspirations collide, everything Rakhi once knew to be true is set ablaze. And as the stakes mount, she will come face to face with the difficult choices and moral compromises that people are prepared to make in order to survive, no matter the costs. Reema Patel’s transportive debut novel offers a moving, smart, and arrestingly funny look at the cost of ambition and power in reclaiming one’s story.

©2022 Reema Patel (P)2022 McClelland & Stewart

Critic reviews

“Such Big Dreams charts the ambitions, disappointments, and dreams of two people who are improbably thrust together as they try to find their way in—and make their mark on—a bustling Mumbai that’s indifferent to their struggles. Unflinching and unsentimental, yet written with compassion and insight, Such Big Dreams is a richly textured and powerful novel that, like Mumbai itself, pulsates with humanity. Reema Patel is a writer to watch. I absolutely loved this book.” (Bianca Marais, author of Hum If You Don’t Know the Words and If You Want to Make God Laugh)

“Mumbai has inspired many great novels about the city, and now we can add Reema Patel’s Such Big Dreams to that list. Her portrayal of Mumbai is fresh and vivid and personal, in part because of the novel’s charming and perceptive narrator, Rakhi, whose daily life straddles the city’s distinct social and economic classes and geographies. I left the book with a sigh of regret, feeling already the loss of Rakhi and the gift of Patel’s Mumbai.” (Shyam Selvadurai, author of Funny Boy)

“From the very first page, Such Big Dreams grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. Reema Patel’s prose jumps with energy, plunging the reader into a page-turner of a story that doesn’t shy away from exploring hard and painful truths about the way people navigate the systemic conditions of society. With assured writing, Patel explores themes ranging from societal elitism to the nuances of interpersonal betrayal and never loses sight of pacing. Visceral and kinetic, Such Big Dreams is a splash of a debut.” (Zalika Reid-Benta, author of Frying Plantain)