I Wish We Weren’t Related

In the acerbic latest from Sanghani (Things I Love About Myself), a 30-something London woman is pulled reluctantly into family drama. When Reeva Metha finds out her father’s dying wish was for her and her two sisters to reunite to perform the Hindu prayers for him, she’s shocked to learn he’d only recently died. Her Bollywood singer mother, Saraswati, had told the girls their father died when Reeva was five. Now Reeva must spend two weeks in her dead dad’s house in Leicester with her sisters: Jaya, a lifestyle influencer who ran off with Reeva’s boyfriend of nine years; and Sita, the perfect wife to Nitin and mother to twin girls. While Reeva’s life looks solid on paper—she’s killing it as a divorce lawyer and dating music agent Nick—she holds resentment against both sisters and her mother. To make matters worse, she’s started to lose her hair from the stress of spending time with Nick and keeping up a cool facade, afraid he won’t like her if she reveals her true self. As the sisters try to piece together why their parents lied to them, Reeva must decide if she’ll hold onto her resentments or let them go. While some of the plot turns rely on the family members jumping to far-fetched conclusions, the characters feel genuine and Sanghani keeps Reeva’s narration fresh by showing how she thinks as a lawyer to get out of sticky situations. This is great fun. Agent: Madeleine Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. (July)