Ask the Author: Alka Joshi
Answered Questions (96)
Alka Joshi
Hi Gin!
What a lovely message! My inspiration for Six Days in Bombay, the real-life 1930s painter Amrita Sher-Gil, was such a formidable artist and a formidable personality--defining her own terms for the independent woman she wanted to be--that I knew I couldn’t let her be forgotten along with so many other women whom history has ignored. I hope the novel will help make her a household name :-)
What’s next? A story of a girl in 1920s Jaipur who wants to learn the forbidden dance of Kathak, practiced by the courtesans. It will be out early 2027! Can’t wait for you to read it!
Hugs,
Alka
What a lovely message! My inspiration for Six Days in Bombay, the real-life 1930s painter Amrita Sher-Gil, was such a formidable artist and a formidable personality--defining her own terms for the independent woman she wanted to be--that I knew I couldn’t let her be forgotten along with so many other women whom history has ignored. I hope the novel will help make her a household name :-)
What’s next? A story of a girl in 1920s Jaipur who wants to learn the forbidden dance of Kathak, practiced by the courtesans. It will be out early 2027! Can’t wait for you to read it!
Hugs,
Alka
Alka Joshi
Hi Elaine,
Would love to connect with you because I love talking to Bookclubs! Please email me at alka@alkajoshi.com and we can start a chat. Thanks!
Alka
Would love to connect with you because I love talking to Bookclubs! Please email me at alka@alkajoshi.com and we can start a chat. Thanks!
Alka
Alka Joshi
Hi Milly! I’m delighted you love my books :-) Early readers of SIX DAYS IN BOMBAY tell me it’s like traveling throughout Europe and walking the streets of old Bombay without leaving the comfort of their cozy armchair. To research the time period and the settings of Prague, Paris, Florence and London, I traveled to all those places and interviewed historians, academic scholars, and art experts and learned all kinds of lovely details I wouldn’t have found in history books. It’s what makes writing fun and readers like you wanting more :-) Alka xo
Alka Joshi
Thanks for your question, Sarah! I am rewriting the treatment and I’ll be involved in the next writer’s room we put together. I’m looking forward to the work ahead to make sure the screen adaption is the story I wrote. Stay tuned... :-)
Alka Joshi
I love this question! Here are ideas that will keep you busy for a while. They’re so absorbing! Enjoy...
Nectar in a Sieve, Kamala Markandaya
Sister of my Heart, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Godaan, Munshi Premchand
The Householder, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
A House for Mr. Biswas, V.S. Naipaul
The Widows of Malabar Hill, Sujata Massey
White Tiger, Arvind Adiga
The Space Between Us, Thrity Umrigar
Inglorious Empire, Shashi Tharoor (non-fiction; all others are fiction)
Nectar in a Sieve, Kamala Markandaya
Sister of my Heart, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Godaan, Munshi Premchand
The Householder, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
A House for Mr. Biswas, V.S. Naipaul
The Widows of Malabar Hill, Sujata Massey
White Tiger, Arvind Adiga
The Space Between Us, Thrity Umrigar
Inglorious Empire, Shashi Tharoor (non-fiction; all others are fiction)
Alka Joshi
Hi Sarah,
I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you! I’ve been so busy putting the finishing touches on Six Days in Bombay! And it will be in everyone’s hands on April 15, 2025. My favorite characters in that novel--besides the fearless painter Mira Novak and her night nurse Sona--is Dr. Stoddard. I don’t know where he came from but in his first scene, I saw him with his wild gray hair and his striped flannel pajamas in the hospital, playing backgammon with Sona. When her back was turned, he moved all the pieces around so he could win the game! He is such a mischievous character, but a wise and loveable one! I hope you’ll love him too. Can’t wait to see what you think.
I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you! I’ve been so busy putting the finishing touches on Six Days in Bombay! And it will be in everyone’s hands on April 15, 2025. My favorite characters in that novel--besides the fearless painter Mira Novak and her night nurse Sona--is Dr. Stoddard. I don’t know where he came from but in his first scene, I saw him with his wild gray hair and his striped flannel pajamas in the hospital, playing backgammon with Sona. When her back was turned, he moved all the pieces around so he could win the game! He is such a mischievous character, but a wise and loveable one! I hope you’ll love him too. Can’t wait to see what you think.
Alka Joshi
Aww. Thanks for that feedback, Sheillagh. I think the reason the characters feel so visceral to you is because they feel real to me too. As I’m writing, I’m envisioning them in the scenes, talking to the other people they’re with, feeling the emotions they must be feeling. When I wrote the scene in The Perfumist of Paris where Radha meets her son Niki after 18 years, I cried when she cried. In Six Days in Bombay, when the most important person in Sona’s life dies, I had to reach for the tissues because I felt her loss just as keenly. Thank you for continuing to read the novels and loving these characters as much as I do.
Alka Joshi
Hi Akshara! I’ve been asked by so many readers to continue the story of characters from the Jaipur Trilogy. Today, I was asked to continue the rivalry between Parvati and her daughter-in-law Sheela. I’ve also been asked to continue the story of the next generation: Niki, Sheela’s daughters, Radha’s daughters, Malik’s children. Then there’s the whole story of Binu, the young girl who is leading the workers of the fragrance factory back in Agra that’s owned by the courtesans. With so many rich stories to choose from, I’m not sure which one to start with! One thing’s for sure: I’ll definitely be returning to the characters again and again! :-)
Alka Joshi
Thanks, Shorti! You’re probably referring to SIX DAYS IN BOMBAY, coming April 15, 2025. It’s the story of an Anglo-Indian nurse at a Bombay hospital in 1937 whose free-spirited patient leaves her four paintings upon her mysterious death. When the nurse goes in search of her patient's former lovers and friends throughout Europe to deliver them, she also uncovers the mystery of the painter’s death. I would be grateful for your pre-order now :-)
Hugs,
Alka
Hugs,
Alka
Alka Joshi
Nancy! How lovely of you to use the hindi word for congratulations that my characters use in my novels. I love it! I’m so honored that you read the first novel of the trilogy. Perhaps you’ll pick up the remaining novels: THE SECRET KEEPER OF JAIPUR and THE PERFUMIST OF PARIS. You’ll follow the lives of the same characters over 18 years. I’ve been with them for almost as long and they feel as if they’re part of my family :-). Be sure to hold a place for SIX DAYS IN BOMBAY, coming April 15, 2025. Can’t wait for you to add that to your reading list. There’s a goodreads giveaway on offer right now!
xo
Alka
xo
Alka
Alka Joshi
Hi Jennifer! I’m just as excited for the release of SIX DAYS IN BOMBAY! For research I traveled to Prague, Florence, Paris, London, Istanbul and Bombay (now called Mumbai) and interviewed scholars, art historians, cultural experts, etc. about what 1937 looked like. You can pre-order this story of a young woman’s quest to find the mystery behind her friend’s death (hint, hint :-)
If you have a bookclub of at least 8 people (or you can gather 8 folks), I’d be happy to Zoom with you as I have for almost 1000 bookclubs. You only have to ask: alka@alkajoshi.com
xo
Alka
If you have a bookclub of at least 8 people (or you can gather 8 folks), I’d be happy to Zoom with you as I have for almost 1000 bookclubs. You only have to ask: alka@alkajoshi.com
xo
Alka
Alka Joshi
Dear Andre,
I apologize for having made so many mistakes in my French. When native French speakers started to write to me, I alerted my publisher. Harper Collins is putting out the corrected version in the paperback out this March. I was so embarrassed that I went on social media offering free copies of the Perfumist of Paris to anyone who could identify at least 10 French mistakes. My readers are so gracious that even those who could identify the errors told me not to worry about it. I love the good energy my readers have :-))))
I apologize for having made so many mistakes in my French. When native French speakers started to write to me, I alerted my publisher. Harper Collins is putting out the corrected version in the paperback out this March. I was so embarrassed that I went on social media offering free copies of the Perfumist of Paris to anyone who could identify at least 10 French mistakes. My readers are so gracious that even those who could identify the errors told me not to worry about it. I love the good energy my readers have :-))))
Alka Joshi
The fourth (The Many Loves of Mira Novak) and fifth books I’m currently working on do not relate to the Jaipur Trilogy although they have a few common characters :-) I’m thinking of subsequent novels--perhaps prequels and sequels to the Trilogy. What do you think? What would you like me to write about those characters? :-)
Alka Joshi
Aww. Thanks for reading about Lakshmi, Malik and Radha and being invested in their lives. I am, too! And I wonder about their lives before and after the series takes place. So I’m thinking of a prequel and a sequel to the Trilogy. But it will have to wait until I complete books #4 and #5. Neither is part of the Trilogy (although there are a few surprises!), but they’re set in India and always center around a strong herione. Lots to do before I retire (which will be never!) :-).
Alka Joshi
I get this question a lot, and I love that fact that readers are so passionate about the story and its characters! I can’t let go of Lakshmi, Malik and Radha either, so I’m thinking of a prequel and a sequel to the Trilogy (kind of like Stars Wars :-). Book #4, not part of the trilogy (although there are a few surprises), is coming early 2025. And I’m starting work on book #5 (also not part of the trilogy). Lots to do before I retire (which will be never!) :-). Thanks for your question!
Alka Joshi
Thank you, Alice, for coming to the Estero library in Florida to see me! I’ve always been sensitive to other people’s emotional states. When I was younger, I would absorb the mood of those around me. It allowed me to understand what they were going through on a deep level, but it also made me feel all those things intensely. Over the years, I learned to protect myself so that while I can feel what others are feeling, I can also distance myself appropriately and merely observe. That acute observation has been super helpful as I create characters in my novels whom readers like you can resonate with. Thanks so much for reading the trilogy :-)
Alka Joshi
You are absolutely right, Montserrat. And I apologize for the mistakes. Readers pointed out more French mistakes (I’m not a native French speaker), so I asked my editor to make sure the French is corrected in the next printing, and she hired a French proofreader to do so. Crossed fingers the next print edition will be “absolument parfait!” :-)
Alka Joshi
Thanks, Robin! The next novel will be released January 2025. It takes place in 1937, and it’s about a famous female painter who is admitted to a hospital in Bombay, and the nurse who tries to uncover the mystery of her death. Can’t wait for you to read it!!
Alka Joshi
Yes! Those are the dishes my mother prepared and my brothers and I loved. I can’t make them as well as my mother could, and I hope I wrote the recipes accurately, but since she’d not here anymore to check them, I’ve done my best. When she cooked at home, I would always ask her to measure out the ingredients for me, but she would laugh and say she did everything by “andaj.” You probably know what that means ;-)
Alka Joshi
You are absolutely right, Shorti. I have it the other way around. It is the groom’s family who must provide the “mahr.” Apologies. I probably should have said that Hakim cannot pay the cost of his daughters’ wedding preparations since the wedding finery and jewels can really add up. Thanks for pointing out the error to me.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more