Haunting Bombay by Shilpa Argawal

I thought this book would be a good one for a book club, because it has a commonly seen theme (especially in books set in India), and some aspects that are less straight forward (controversial enough to have different ideas about what might be happening). Pinky is a girl born of a mother who dies trying to get from Pakistan to India in the early days of independence (when it is said there were literally trainfuls of dead bodies being transported between Muslim Pakistan and Hindi India, with a total of at least 2 million people killed, so this is a story that would resonate in 21st century India). She is treated as unwanted, not a true member of the household, and is more like an indentured servant than an adopted orphan. So she is growing up marginalized. Along comes a ghost story. A child who died and she is the replacement child. She begins to live that role, gradually at first, then with growing fervor. It is well told, believable, and the question is, what is going on? Is it a ghost? is it her imagination? Does she want to have a role so badly that she unconsciously adopts this one, because it is feared rather than vicitimized? Is she innocent or cunning?