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Baby Does A Runner
Sometimes you need to run, to find out where you really belong.
Baby has had it with just about everything. She's fed up with her job and her colleagues, her love life is permanently casual, she's grieving for her dad and if her mother and the aunties don't stop asking her when she's going to settle down and start having babies, she might just lose it.
When Baby finds some love letters between her grandfather and someone who is very clearly not Baby's Nana, she needs to know more. She's going to go to India, find out why her family left, find out more about the mysterious woman and find out more about herself.
What better time to do a runner?
Baby has had it with just about everything. She's fed up with her job and her colleagues, her love life is permanently casual, she's grieving for her dad and if her mother and the aunties don't stop asking her when she's going to settle down and start having babies, she might just lose it.
When Baby finds some love letters between her grandfather and someone who is very clearly not Baby's Nana, she needs to know more. She's going to go to India, find out why her family left, find out more about the mysterious woman and find out more about herself.
What better time to do a runner?
336 pages, Hardcover
Published July 20, 2023
58 people are currently reading
440 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
March 3, 2024
Baby Does A Runner is a lovely and heartwarming story about finding out who you are and where you come from, the importance of your roots, your heritage, finding out where you belong in the world and who your people are.
Anita Rani writes with ease. I loved how the story flows, it was engaging and I just flew through the pages.
Baby Saul is one of those characters that you can easily relate to. She's warm, funny, brave and scared and lost all at the same time.
I really loved that story. There's just this lovely quality to it that I really enjoyed.
Anita Rani's debut novel is absolutely fantastic and I hope that we get to enjoy more from her soon.
Anita Rani writes with ease. I loved how the story flows, it was engaging and I just flew through the pages.
Baby Saul is one of those characters that you can easily relate to. She's warm, funny, brave and scared and lost all at the same time.
I really loved that story. There's just this lovely quality to it that I really enjoyed.
Anita Rani's debut novel is absolutely fantastic and I hope that we get to enjoy more from her soon.
July 5, 2023
3.5*
“A little bit Eat Pray Love, a little bit Who Do You Think You Are?”
I went into this book expecting some frivolous fun, literary romcom as it were. And it does have fun bits, it does have romance and comedy. But it also delves into religion, culture, history, generational trauma, in an accessible and approachable manner. These were all handled with sensitivity and respect, and it’s clear that the author has a lot of love for India.
I knew next to nothing of the Indian Partition before I started reading, and what I read here piqued my interest enough to motivate me to do additional research myself. I can’t say that of many other books in this genre!
I adored Baby’s grandmother and their relationship was so beautiful. It really made me lonely for my own nana. Her grandfather’s story is heartbreaking, and I appreciate that both sides of his person are shown, the before and the after, illustrating the effects of his experience.
I would have loved to see more of her cousin Ruchi. Would gladly read a follow up dedicated to just her.
My only disappointment relates to Baby’s love interest. Her Indian adventure was supposed to be one of self discovery, but she spent near the duration going weak at the knees over a man. Never mind how unrealistic it felt that a total stranger should devote his time to her journey, I was disappointed by the knight in shining armour trope. It was cute, and I understand a woman travelling alone may not feel safe, but I had hoped she would be more independent. So much of the book was devoted to highlighting the historic misogyny in the culture and traditions, so her reliance on this random man felt rather ironic. For me, it diluted the message of the powerful woman, the survivor, the “warrior goddess”. It’s a shame.
“A little bit Eat Pray Love, a little bit Who Do You Think You Are?”
I went into this book expecting some frivolous fun, literary romcom as it were. And it does have fun bits, it does have romance and comedy. But it also delves into religion, culture, history, generational trauma, in an accessible and approachable manner. These were all handled with sensitivity and respect, and it’s clear that the author has a lot of love for India.
I knew next to nothing of the Indian Partition before I started reading, and what I read here piqued my interest enough to motivate me to do additional research myself. I can’t say that of many other books in this genre!
I adored Baby’s grandmother and their relationship was so beautiful. It really made me lonely for my own nana. Her grandfather’s story is heartbreaking, and I appreciate that both sides of his person are shown, the before and the after, illustrating the effects of his experience.
I would have loved to see more of her cousin Ruchi. Would gladly read a follow up dedicated to just her.
My only disappointment relates to Baby’s love interest. Her Indian adventure was supposed to be one of self discovery, but she spent near the duration going weak at the knees over a man. Never mind how unrealistic it felt that a total stranger should devote his time to her journey, I was disappointed by the knight in shining armour trope. It was cute, and I understand a woman travelling alone may not feel safe, but I had hoped she would be more independent. So much of the book was devoted to highlighting the historic misogyny in the culture and traditions, so her reliance on this random man felt rather ironic. For me, it diluted the message of the powerful woman, the survivor, the “warrior goddess”. It’s a shame.
July 21, 2023
Baby Saul is a successful modern Indian woman, with a good job and her own apartment in Manchester. However, she seems to have hit a glass ceiling at work and the death of her beloved father has knocked her sideways. When she finds a bundle of love letters addressed to her deceased grandfather from a hitherto unknown first wife, Baby is determined to get to the bottom of this family secret by going to India and discovering what happened to change the loving man described in the letters into the angry alcoholic she recalls.
Baby hasn't been to India since she was a child and holds many common misconceptions about her ancestral homeland, a fact that her auntie's neighbour Sid takes great pleasure in disabusing, accusing her of undertaking some kind of Eat, Pray, Love journey and mocking her for her assumptions about how backward India would be compared to London.
Despite their mutual antipathy, when he hears that Baby intends to travel to Amritsar alone, Sid offers to accompany her. As an avid historian, Sid is fascinated by the letters which were written in the mid-1940s, the time of Partition and can't wait to show(off) Baby the real India as well as his own knowledge of India throwing off British rule. As Baby learns more about the history of India, and the horror of Partition in 1947, she feels as though a previously stunted part of her has been given room to grow.
I wanted to like this, but I really struggled to understand where Anita Rani was going with this. The romance is fairly weak, enemies-to-love, forced proximity, mixed with a smidge of instalurve. It didn't help that I found Sid to be an obnoxious know-it-all he liked nothing more than to lecture Baby - from the very first moment they met he was telling her she was wrong - who needs a substitute-Daddy? Yes, Baby didn't know much about the British rule of India, but that could be said about the British rule of Kenya, or Barbados - by and large British children aren't taught about the atrocities and oppression of British colonisation of any countries and Baby's family were keen to avoid discussion of the past, they believed moving to the UK had wiped the slate clean and it was a new start for all. Then when Baby learns about the horrors of Partition, it is almost as a throwaway line in a voicemail to her BFF at home in the UK, if Anita Rani wanted to educate her readers about Partition then maybe the novel should have been structured differently? Sid also seemed remarkably silent about the atrocities that former neighbours visited upon each other during partition, or blamed the violence, murders, rapes, etc on the British for drawing an arbitrary line across India to form Pakistan - when the reason for partition was because the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in India could not agree on how an independent India would be run and violence was already escalating in many Indian cities. Now I'm obviously British, so maybe I'm leaning too heavily in favour of my own country.
Anyway, it wasn't really a romance, it didn't really go into any depth about Partition (maybe if she ditched the romance and made it all about tracing what happened to Baby's grandfather's first wife and two children through Partition), it was a little bit Eat, Pray, Love in the way Baby 'found herself' travelling around a foreign country where she barely spoke the language, just because her grandparents and mother were born there. TBH it felt a bit like when Americans claim they are Irish because their great-great grandparents were Irish (and I know I few English people who do the same). Maybe worst of all, most of the book felt like we were being told things rather than seeing them. Even the exhaustive lists of food at every meal felt like it was being rammed down the reader's throat.
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Bumped for release.
Baby hasn't been to India since she was a child and holds many common misconceptions about her ancestral homeland, a fact that her auntie's neighbour Sid takes great pleasure in disabusing, accusing her of undertaking some kind of Eat, Pray, Love journey and mocking her for her assumptions about how backward India would be compared to London.
Despite their mutual antipathy, when he hears that Baby intends to travel to Amritsar alone, Sid offers to accompany her. As an avid historian, Sid is fascinated by the letters which were written in the mid-1940s, the time of Partition and can't wait to show(off) Baby the real India as well as his own knowledge of India throwing off British rule. As Baby learns more about the history of India, and the horror of Partition in 1947, she feels as though a previously stunted part of her has been given room to grow.
I wanted to like this, but I really struggled to understand where Anita Rani was going with this. The romance is fairly weak, enemies-to-love, forced proximity, mixed with a smidge of instalurve. It didn't help that I found Sid to be an obnoxious know-it-all he liked nothing more than to lecture Baby - from the very first moment they met he was telling her she was wrong - who needs a substitute-Daddy? Yes, Baby didn't know much about the British rule of India, but that could be said about the British rule of Kenya, or Barbados - by and large British children aren't taught about the atrocities and oppression of British colonisation of any countries and Baby's family were keen to avoid discussion of the past, they believed moving to the UK had wiped the slate clean and it was a new start for all. Then when Baby learns about the horrors of Partition, it is almost as a throwaway line in a voicemail to her BFF at home in the UK, if Anita Rani wanted to educate her readers about Partition then maybe the novel should have been structured differently? Sid also seemed remarkably silent about the atrocities that former neighbours visited upon each other during partition, or blamed the violence, murders, rapes, etc on the British for drawing an arbitrary line across India to form Pakistan - when the reason for partition was because the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in India could not agree on how an independent India would be run and violence was already escalating in many Indian cities. Now I'm obviously British, so maybe I'm leaning too heavily in favour of my own country.
Anyway, it wasn't really a romance, it didn't really go into any depth about Partition (maybe if she ditched the romance and made it all about tracing what happened to Baby's grandfather's first wife and two children through Partition), it was a little bit Eat, Pray, Love in the way Baby 'found herself' travelling around a foreign country where she barely spoke the language, just because her grandparents and mother were born there. TBH it felt a bit like when Americans claim they are Irish because their great-great grandparents were Irish (and I know I few English people who do the same). Maybe worst of all, most of the book felt like we were being told things rather than seeing them. Even the exhaustive lists of food at every meal felt like it was being rammed down the reader's throat.
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Bumped for release.
July 22, 2023
I love any book with British Asian characters at the helm, so Anita Rani's offering appealed straight away.
Baby Does A Runner is a brilliant story about Baby, or Simran; a British-born Sikh woman who is single, in her 30s and struggling a bit with not getting the same opportunities in life as her male counterparts at work, and with the loss of her father.
A secret revealed during a trip home sparks the interest in a fact-finding mission back to the motherland, though it is labelled as a bit of an Eat. Pray, Love type trip.
Baby learns so much about her own feelings as an Indian abroad, as well as one whose family lost so much during the partition. The reason for her trip bears fruit she wasn't expecting in many forms, with truths being exposed, as well as the possibility of a little romance along the way.
So many things dealt with here, but Anita has joined the wave of authors, bringing the voice of British-Asians to the literary front, giving us characters and situations we can relate to.
I thoroughly enjoyed this!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Books for an ARC.
Baby Does A Runner is a brilliant story about Baby, or Simran; a British-born Sikh woman who is single, in her 30s and struggling a bit with not getting the same opportunities in life as her male counterparts at work, and with the loss of her father.
A secret revealed during a trip home sparks the interest in a fact-finding mission back to the motherland, though it is labelled as a bit of an Eat. Pray, Love type trip.
Baby learns so much about her own feelings as an Indian abroad, as well as one whose family lost so much during the partition. The reason for her trip bears fruit she wasn't expecting in many forms, with truths being exposed, as well as the possibility of a little romance along the way.
So many things dealt with here, but Anita has joined the wave of authors, bringing the voice of British-Asians to the literary front, giving us characters and situations we can relate to.
I thoroughly enjoyed this!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Books for an ARC.
October 24, 2024
I think if this book didn’t have a lot of personal emotional triggers/nostalgia for me I would have rated it lower
It was a really enjoyable story of self-discovery through India, and the importance of being in touch with your heritage. There was also a lot of information around the history of partition. BUT I was disappointed there ended up being a love interest, it felt unnecessary and he was boring
It was a really enjoyable story of self-discovery through India, and the importance of being in touch with your heritage. There was also a lot of information around the history of partition. BUT I was disappointed there ended up being a love interest, it felt unnecessary and he was boring
February 6, 2025
Not the light fun read I was expecting, and I'm glad for it. This book prompted me to read more on Partition which I really only knew as a word before and not any of the meaning. Gently written, flows easily. I cried multiple times (in public!) and had to put it down to collect myself. Just a lovely, sad, funny, sweet book
September 12, 2023
I really enjoy seeing Anita on tv so was excited to read this book. The synopsis didn't really seem to match up with the story I read though. The story was both at once, much more serious and challenging than I was expecting and much less frothily romantic.
Baby, who prefers to call herself by her chosen name of Simran, has passed another birthday as a single, career woman, living in Manchester and doing a job she is over-qualified for and should have been promoted in a long time ago. She's having an unsatisfactory relationship with a colleague and seems to spend a lot of time feeling unfulfilled but without understanding why.
A trip back home to Bradford for a 'surprise' birthday tea highlights all her frustrations and also reveals a mystery that she wants to unravel. Baby finds a pile of letters from a woman called Naseeb, written to her grandfather. It's clear Naseeb was once married to Baby's dad's dad (both men are now dead), and she definitely isn't Baby's grandmother (her dadima), who's downstairs making delicious food for Baby's party.
Baby didn't know her grandfather had been married before, but remembering him as a mean drunk, she's obsessed with the fact no one has ever talked about Naseeb and that the Ranjeet of her letters was nothing like the grandad she knew.
Rather than ask her mum and dadima about the letters, Baby decides to go on a voyage of discovery to India, to visit her parents' homeland and see what she can uncover.
Once in India, staying with her aunt and cousin, Baby meets Siddharth (Sid) and despite seeming to belittle Baby's position as a visiting Indian, he suggests he drive her across the country to visit the places she wants to see. Once she reveals the real reason for her trip, to find out what happened to Naseeb, he's even more on board and the inevitable sparks fly.
What happens next is a drive across India with rich descriptions of the country, its architecture, the people, the juxtaposition of wealth and poverty and the customs and ways that were so new to Baby, yet touched something deep in her soul.
This is a story that is absolutely rammed full of Indian terms, especially for clothes, food and religion. Some of which I knew but many of which I didn't. I found myself highlighting so many words and looking them up, finding photos etc that the flow of the story was interrupted - not a problem for someone who is Indian or of Indian heritage, or who knows more than I did.
I got distracted by the rich visual imagery Rani painted and found the threads of the story were stretched as far out as they could go, before pinging back in again. The idea that Baby and Sid could track down the exact records, find (or not) the houses, the people, seemed unlikely to me.
The story deals with Partition, an absolutely abhorrent process that is sickening and mystifying, and I don't know if I feel the balance was right. I was tipped around, is this a travelogue, a romance, an historical novel?
It marries all three, with some added cooking in there too.
Overall I enjoyed the book but found much of it just too detailed, I've never read such a comprehensive list of party food before. I felt like I was driving along a road and suddenly I'd turn off, drive for ages along a very detailed cul-de-sac, just to whip back up the way I came and head back onto the main road for a while before the next extremely detailed diversion.
The one thing that I thought was brilliant and which I keep coming back to, is the fact that with the exception of Sid (and even he's just a foil for Baby), men play only a cursory part in this story. Even the beloved men, like Baby's dad, are on the periphery. He's dead and we only know of him in relation to Baby's deep grief and love for him; Ranjeet is long gone and we never read his letters back to Naseeb, we only know about his character from her. It's the women who hold the story, who educate, who persevere, who love, who are traumatised, who make the biggest sacrifices.
Overall, a love story to India and its women, whether in India, Pakistan or Bradford, with some beautifully descriptive writing and an enjoyable plot, if rooted in man's inexplicable cruelty to women and Mother India.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a preview copy.
Baby, who prefers to call herself by her chosen name of Simran, has passed another birthday as a single, career woman, living in Manchester and doing a job she is over-qualified for and should have been promoted in a long time ago. She's having an unsatisfactory relationship with a colleague and seems to spend a lot of time feeling unfulfilled but without understanding why.
A trip back home to Bradford for a 'surprise' birthday tea highlights all her frustrations and also reveals a mystery that she wants to unravel. Baby finds a pile of letters from a woman called Naseeb, written to her grandfather. It's clear Naseeb was once married to Baby's dad's dad (both men are now dead), and she definitely isn't Baby's grandmother (her dadima), who's downstairs making delicious food for Baby's party.
Baby didn't know her grandfather had been married before, but remembering him as a mean drunk, she's obsessed with the fact no one has ever talked about Naseeb and that the Ranjeet of her letters was nothing like the grandad she knew.
Rather than ask her mum and dadima about the letters, Baby decides to go on a voyage of discovery to India, to visit her parents' homeland and see what she can uncover.
Once in India, staying with her aunt and cousin, Baby meets Siddharth (Sid) and despite seeming to belittle Baby's position as a visiting Indian, he suggests he drive her across the country to visit the places she wants to see. Once she reveals the real reason for her trip, to find out what happened to Naseeb, he's even more on board and the inevitable sparks fly.
What happens next is a drive across India with rich descriptions of the country, its architecture, the people, the juxtaposition of wealth and poverty and the customs and ways that were so new to Baby, yet touched something deep in her soul.
This is a story that is absolutely rammed full of Indian terms, especially for clothes, food and religion. Some of which I knew but many of which I didn't. I found myself highlighting so many words and looking them up, finding photos etc that the flow of the story was interrupted - not a problem for someone who is Indian or of Indian heritage, or who knows more than I did.
I got distracted by the rich visual imagery Rani painted and found the threads of the story were stretched as far out as they could go, before pinging back in again. The idea that Baby and Sid could track down the exact records, find (or not) the houses, the people, seemed unlikely to me.
The story deals with Partition, an absolutely abhorrent process that is sickening and mystifying, and I don't know if I feel the balance was right. I was tipped around, is this a travelogue, a romance, an historical novel?
It marries all three, with some added cooking in there too.
Overall I enjoyed the book but found much of it just too detailed, I've never read such a comprehensive list of party food before. I felt like I was driving along a road and suddenly I'd turn off, drive for ages along a very detailed cul-de-sac, just to whip back up the way I came and head back onto the main road for a while before the next extremely detailed diversion.
The one thing that I thought was brilliant and which I keep coming back to, is the fact that with the exception of Sid (and even he's just a foil for Baby), men play only a cursory part in this story. Even the beloved men, like Baby's dad, are on the periphery. He's dead and we only know of him in relation to Baby's deep grief and love for him; Ranjeet is long gone and we never read his letters back to Naseeb, we only know about his character from her. It's the women who hold the story, who educate, who persevere, who love, who are traumatised, who make the biggest sacrifices.
Overall, a love story to India and its women, whether in India, Pakistan or Bradford, with some beautifully descriptive writing and an enjoyable plot, if rooted in man's inexplicable cruelty to women and Mother India.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a preview copy.
July 25, 2024
A beautiful story about love and hope. I was quite emotional through the second half of the book. Loved the way the relationships within the family changed and developed. It taught me more about Indian history and what people had to go through. The way the story developed had me desperate to keep reading to see where it went. Absolutely loved the ending. Would totally recommend this book.
October 10, 2025
I enjoyed this as an insight into Partition via family history and chimes with other stories I’ve heard recently of the millennial generation discovering family history that was previously unspoken of because of deep trauma. I would have liked more on the history but it was a good mix of humour, self-reflection and romance as well as history. However you could tell it’s written by a presenter with all the place-setting and sometimes repetitiveness of the plot points.
December 15, 2024
"Baby Does A Runner" delves into the poignant topic of the Partition of India and Pakistan, following a British Punjabi woman's quest for her family's history. While the subject matter holds immense potential for a deeply moving and impactful narrative, the execution unfortunately falls short.
The book's strengths lie in its accessible writing style and the engaging narration by the author herself. The cultural references to British Indian life add a relatable touch, and there are moments of genuine humor that lighten the mood.
However, the narrative is plagued by several significant flaws. Plot holes undermine the credibility of the story, leading to a confusing and unsatisfying conclusion. The protagonist, Baby, is frustratingly immature, despite her supposed age of 35. Her teenage-like behavior and unrealistic romantic subplot detract from the seriousness of the historical backdrop.
The Partition is a subject that deserves to be explored with sensitivity and depth. Unfortunately, "Baby Does A Runner" fails to deliver on this promise. While I hesitate to discourage authors from tackling such important topics, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, this book ultimately disappoints. I cannot recommend it to readers seeking a compelling and authentic portrayal of this historical event.
The book's strengths lie in its accessible writing style and the engaging narration by the author herself. The cultural references to British Indian life add a relatable touch, and there are moments of genuine humor that lighten the mood.
However, the narrative is plagued by several significant flaws. Plot holes undermine the credibility of the story, leading to a confusing and unsatisfying conclusion. The protagonist, Baby, is frustratingly immature, despite her supposed age of 35. Her teenage-like behavior and unrealistic romantic subplot detract from the seriousness of the historical backdrop.
The Partition is a subject that deserves to be explored with sensitivity and depth. Unfortunately, "Baby Does A Runner" fails to deliver on this promise. While I hesitate to discourage authors from tackling such important topics, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, this book ultimately disappoints. I cannot recommend it to readers seeking a compelling and authentic portrayal of this historical event.
March 27, 2024
Lots of cringe one liners, love interest was stale and convenient - no real emotional development so you don't root for them whatsoever
No real challenges, romanticisation of India (in a way that it feels like the novel is trying to prove something), also no acknowledgement of the cultural difficulties of being a lone female traveller in India and Pakistan. I think the novel brushes over a lot of things like this which would provide nuance and instead engages in a weird superficial anti-colonial feminism which feels like a string of buzzwords rather than an actual developed, human amalgamation of experiences.
The Partition story was interesting but lacked complexity. There were no real challenges when going from step A --> B of her quest - no lost archives which disrupted her attempts of learning her family history. It was all linear and convenient. At the beginning of the novel Baby has an unrealistic lack of knowledge of Partition , particularly considering her Sikh heritage and how she talks about colonialism all the time. Feels like the author was using her absence of knowledge so she could establish Partition to the reader, but in doing so sacrifices the Sikh heritage of the character in a way that doesn't fit.
Protagonist is boring.
No real challenges, romanticisation of India (in a way that it feels like the novel is trying to prove something), also no acknowledgement of the cultural difficulties of being a lone female traveller in India and Pakistan. I think the novel brushes over a lot of things like this which would provide nuance and instead engages in a weird superficial anti-colonial feminism which feels like a string of buzzwords rather than an actual developed, human amalgamation of experiences.
The Partition story was interesting but lacked complexity. There were no real challenges when going from step A --> B of her quest - no lost archives which disrupted her attempts of learning her family history. It was all linear and convenient. At the beginning of the novel Baby has an unrealistic lack of knowledge of Partition , particularly considering her Sikh heritage and how she talks about colonialism all the time. Feels like the author was using her absence of knowledge so she could establish Partition to the reader, but in doing so sacrifices the Sikh heritage of the character in a way that doesn't fit.
Protagonist is boring.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 8, 2024
This book was awful. Nothing happens until around 200 pages (of a 250 page book!)
It also had numerous spelling and grammatical errors. Also, one of the letters was written to Jaan from himself... why did the publisher not proof read it?
Don't waste your time!
It also had numerous spelling and grammatical errors. Also, one of the letters was written to Jaan from himself... why did the publisher not proof read it?
Don't waste your time!
June 30, 2023
Baby Saul is fed up with her job and her colleagues. Her love life is permanently casual, she's grieving for her dad, and if her mother and the aunties don't stop asking her when she's going to settle down and start having babies, she might just lose it.
When Baby finds some love letters between her grandfather and someone who is very clearly not Baby's Nana, she needs to know more. She's heads off to India, to find out why her family left, and find out more about the mysterious woman.
What she doesn't bargain for is Sid, her guide (and unwilling driver) who is annoyingly handsome with a knack for asking Baby the sort of questions that force her to look at what she really wants out of life, and what starts as a journey about discovering her ancestry becomes a journey of self-discovery.
I absolutely loved everything about this novel. Anita Rani has created a brilliant character with Baby who is a sassy Bradford-born girl-about Manchester, living as an independent woman with her own flat and a good job in marketing. Baby is sparky and funny, as is the dialogue, and this delightful novel is threaded with humour, wit and comedy. But, there is also great depth to this book, and it explores more serious issues above and beyond the light-hearted take on the heavy hints about marriage and babies from her Indian mother and ‘aunties’, and the unfulfilling day job.
Baby is a British Indian who has felt that she doesn’t quite fit for most of her life. Outwith Bradford’s Punjabi community, she has experienced casual and overt racism both in school and at work - to the point that she felt shame about her Nana picking her up from school because of the way she dressed, and the way her company pays only lip service to equality, constantly overlooking her for promotion whilst putting her in charge of diversity training.
When Baby heads off to India to discover more about her family, ironically and unexpectedly, she feels that she doesn’t fit in there either. She feels marked out as ‘different’ because she is an Indian living abroad, whilst discovering that she is equally guilty of having incorrect regressive assumptions about modern day India, as well as ignorance of its past.
And then of course, underlying all of these feelings about race, racism, acceptance, and belonging, is the huge and at times overwhelming grief she carries within her, caused by the death of her father whom she loved dearly.
However with the help of her cousin and Sid, she soon begins to feel more ‘at home’ in India: she opens up to the place and realises how much of her true self she has been keeping hidden. Her journey to the Punjab with Sid in search of her ancestors, reveal more of the country to her, and she realises that the letters as not just a story of family history, but that they are also about India itself. They tell the story of a tragic episode of Indian history about which she knows practically nothing: partition.
Baby is deeply affected by her discoveries and comes to realise that she is from two places: the place she is physically connected with (Bradford), and the place she is ‘spiritually entwined with’ (India).
Baby also realises how lacking the British school history curriculum is given the diversity of our country and the fact that for 300 years, Britain’s main focus was India and the Empire, with Britain’s historical wealth, development and achievements made on the back of India, yet all that is taught in British schools are ‘two world wars and how great the Victorians were’. Not teaching episodes from Indian history deprives British Indian children of both knowledge and context of their heritage.
Discovering the secrets of the past helps Baby to join the dots in her own life, and gives her ‘steel’. She feels more grounded and determined. In the past she avoided wanting to know about her history and to fully understand who she is because it would mark her out as even more different to her peers. Now, her journey has taught her to be unafraid of who she is, to not try to be like everyone else and to not allow herself be made to feel small. She wonders if she has been the British Experiment and if it is possible to be fully British without losing Indian values and culture, but she also realises that she is completely connected to and a product of her, and India’s, past. Finally she realises that this connection to where she comes from is helping to guide her future and has given her life meaning and purpose. A whole new future beckons in more ways than one!
The balance between the exploration of really serious issues and the comedy, humour and romance in this novel is pitch perfect – everything is beautifully and sensitively handled – and as well as exploring these important themes, and developing a great cast of well-realised characters, Anita Rani brilliantly and vividly creates a sense of place and community within this novel. Whether it is Bradford or the Punjab you experience the sights, sounds and smells.
This is a wonderful, enjoyable and thought-provoking debut and I can’t wait to read Anita Rani’s next novel.
When Baby finds some love letters between her grandfather and someone who is very clearly not Baby's Nana, she needs to know more. She's heads off to India, to find out why her family left, and find out more about the mysterious woman.
What she doesn't bargain for is Sid, her guide (and unwilling driver) who is annoyingly handsome with a knack for asking Baby the sort of questions that force her to look at what she really wants out of life, and what starts as a journey about discovering her ancestry becomes a journey of self-discovery.
I absolutely loved everything about this novel. Anita Rani has created a brilliant character with Baby who is a sassy Bradford-born girl-about Manchester, living as an independent woman with her own flat and a good job in marketing. Baby is sparky and funny, as is the dialogue, and this delightful novel is threaded with humour, wit and comedy. But, there is also great depth to this book, and it explores more serious issues above and beyond the light-hearted take on the heavy hints about marriage and babies from her Indian mother and ‘aunties’, and the unfulfilling day job.
Baby is a British Indian who has felt that she doesn’t quite fit for most of her life. Outwith Bradford’s Punjabi community, she has experienced casual and overt racism both in school and at work - to the point that she felt shame about her Nana picking her up from school because of the way she dressed, and the way her company pays only lip service to equality, constantly overlooking her for promotion whilst putting her in charge of diversity training.
When Baby heads off to India to discover more about her family, ironically and unexpectedly, she feels that she doesn’t fit in there either. She feels marked out as ‘different’ because she is an Indian living abroad, whilst discovering that she is equally guilty of having incorrect regressive assumptions about modern day India, as well as ignorance of its past.
And then of course, underlying all of these feelings about race, racism, acceptance, and belonging, is the huge and at times overwhelming grief she carries within her, caused by the death of her father whom she loved dearly.
However with the help of her cousin and Sid, she soon begins to feel more ‘at home’ in India: she opens up to the place and realises how much of her true self she has been keeping hidden. Her journey to the Punjab with Sid in search of her ancestors, reveal more of the country to her, and she realises that the letters as not just a story of family history, but that they are also about India itself. They tell the story of a tragic episode of Indian history about which she knows practically nothing: partition.
Baby is deeply affected by her discoveries and comes to realise that she is from two places: the place she is physically connected with (Bradford), and the place she is ‘spiritually entwined with’ (India).
Baby also realises how lacking the British school history curriculum is given the diversity of our country and the fact that for 300 years, Britain’s main focus was India and the Empire, with Britain’s historical wealth, development and achievements made on the back of India, yet all that is taught in British schools are ‘two world wars and how great the Victorians were’. Not teaching episodes from Indian history deprives British Indian children of both knowledge and context of their heritage.
Discovering the secrets of the past helps Baby to join the dots in her own life, and gives her ‘steel’. She feels more grounded and determined. In the past she avoided wanting to know about her history and to fully understand who she is because it would mark her out as even more different to her peers. Now, her journey has taught her to be unafraid of who she is, to not try to be like everyone else and to not allow herself be made to feel small. She wonders if she has been the British Experiment and if it is possible to be fully British without losing Indian values and culture, but she also realises that she is completely connected to and a product of her, and India’s, past. Finally she realises that this connection to where she comes from is helping to guide her future and has given her life meaning and purpose. A whole new future beckons in more ways than one!
The balance between the exploration of really serious issues and the comedy, humour and romance in this novel is pitch perfect – everything is beautifully and sensitively handled – and as well as exploring these important themes, and developing a great cast of well-realised characters, Anita Rani brilliantly and vividly creates a sense of place and community within this novel. Whether it is Bradford or the Punjab you experience the sights, sounds and smells.
This is a wonderful, enjoyable and thought-provoking debut and I can’t wait to read Anita Rani’s next novel.
July 20, 2023
Baby Saul (yes that is her real name) is not living her best life at moment. She’s still grieving for her beloved dad, she’s in a job where she’s not appreciated and her love life is non-existent. To add insult to injury the questions she keeps being asked is when she is getting married and start a family. Talk about feeling under pressure. Whilst at her mum’s house she starts to look for her dad’s kambal (blanket) to seek comfort and in her mum’s peti (trunk) she finds love letters written by her Dadaji (grandfather) to someone who is not her Dadima (grandmother). Who was her Dadaji writing to? To find out Baby will have to travel to India on a journey of discovery.
I couldn’t wait to read this book because the author is someone who I admire and someone who I see as a role model. I loved everything about the story from the writing style, to the characters and the locations. As a British Indian I have never read a book as relatable as this. I could see so much of my own life in this book and at times it felt like parts of my life had been included in the story. There were so many references that I recognised or have heard numerous times before. At times I found myself laughing out loud, nodding my head in agreement or commenting out loud how relatable something was. I can confirm the Illuminaunty are real and no everyone’s business. Plus can you even call yourself a fully-fledged desi if your parents/family haven’t consulted an astrologer multiple times and you have a birth chart. I still have my copy.
I adored the story and read it within 24 hours. I have also downloaded the audiobook because I loved the book so much. I felt I was on Baby’s journey with her. Reading this book was like being on an emotional rollercoaster. My reading journey consisted of smiling, laughing and at times crying. There were lots of tears at times. When we meet Baby she is in a place in her life where she is a bit lost. Everyone around her is getting married, is married or having children. On the scale that is used in Indian culture to compare individuals and where they should be in life, Baby is very behind. Although she has her own little flat, she is in her 30s and with no marriage prospects she is considered past it because the older she gets the less likely it is that she will find someone. There is this obsession in Indian culture with hitting certain milestones and if you don’t reach them the pressure becomes intense and that is reflected so well in this book. Initially Baby appears care free and happy with her life but the more she is asked about settling down the more it seems to get to her.
I loved Baby as a character because we share the same characteristics. Baby is funny, smart, fierce, knows her own mind and says it as it is. She knows what she wants and will fight against the norm and push the boundaries set by society. She’s trying to forge her own path in life and be her own person. She is not averse to marriage; she’s just not found the right person yet. Any person that reads this book will be able to relate to Baby in one way or another and if you’re of Indian heritage you’ll see a lot of yourself in baby. I loved Baby’s relationship with her Dadima because it reminded me a lot of my relationship with my Ajima (maternal grandmother).
Baby’s journey was an interesting one and it felt like she was meant to find her Dadaji’s letters so that she could learn more about not only her family but also about herself. The story is also about family secrets which Baby tries to uncover. What the story highlighted very well is that in Indian culture there are a lot of family secrets that are never spoken about or acknowledged. If something happened in the past that is where it will stay. I think it's a generational issue where the older generation prefer not to talk about certain things or family issues that happened in the past but the newer generation are more inquisitive and want to learn more. Baby's journey to India was brilliant and having been to India myself Baby describes it perfectly as a complete and utter sensory overload because that it what it is. This journey also makes Baby question who she is and her identity but also how little she knows about her heritage, background and Indian history. It changes her as a person. Before her journey she never told her colleagues her real name as she was embarrassed and ashamed but on her return she tells them her real name. One theme that is portrayed so well in this book is one of identity as Baby clearly struggles with growing up in Britain but also being true to her Punjabi roots. She would feel embarrassed about eating certain foods and wearing cultural clothing but as she gets older she starts to embrace who she really is wearing her Indian clothing with pride.
A must read and one of my favourite books of the year.
I couldn’t wait to read this book because the author is someone who I admire and someone who I see as a role model. I loved everything about the story from the writing style, to the characters and the locations. As a British Indian I have never read a book as relatable as this. I could see so much of my own life in this book and at times it felt like parts of my life had been included in the story. There were so many references that I recognised or have heard numerous times before. At times I found myself laughing out loud, nodding my head in agreement or commenting out loud how relatable something was. I can confirm the Illuminaunty are real and no everyone’s business. Plus can you even call yourself a fully-fledged desi if your parents/family haven’t consulted an astrologer multiple times and you have a birth chart. I still have my copy.
I adored the story and read it within 24 hours. I have also downloaded the audiobook because I loved the book so much. I felt I was on Baby’s journey with her. Reading this book was like being on an emotional rollercoaster. My reading journey consisted of smiling, laughing and at times crying. There were lots of tears at times. When we meet Baby she is in a place in her life where she is a bit lost. Everyone around her is getting married, is married or having children. On the scale that is used in Indian culture to compare individuals and where they should be in life, Baby is very behind. Although she has her own little flat, she is in her 30s and with no marriage prospects she is considered past it because the older she gets the less likely it is that she will find someone. There is this obsession in Indian culture with hitting certain milestones and if you don’t reach them the pressure becomes intense and that is reflected so well in this book. Initially Baby appears care free and happy with her life but the more she is asked about settling down the more it seems to get to her.
I loved Baby as a character because we share the same characteristics. Baby is funny, smart, fierce, knows her own mind and says it as it is. She knows what she wants and will fight against the norm and push the boundaries set by society. She’s trying to forge her own path in life and be her own person. She is not averse to marriage; she’s just not found the right person yet. Any person that reads this book will be able to relate to Baby in one way or another and if you’re of Indian heritage you’ll see a lot of yourself in baby. I loved Baby’s relationship with her Dadima because it reminded me a lot of my relationship with my Ajima (maternal grandmother).
Baby’s journey was an interesting one and it felt like she was meant to find her Dadaji’s letters so that she could learn more about not only her family but also about herself. The story is also about family secrets which Baby tries to uncover. What the story highlighted very well is that in Indian culture there are a lot of family secrets that are never spoken about or acknowledged. If something happened in the past that is where it will stay. I think it's a generational issue where the older generation prefer not to talk about certain things or family issues that happened in the past but the newer generation are more inquisitive and want to learn more. Baby's journey to India was brilliant and having been to India myself Baby describes it perfectly as a complete and utter sensory overload because that it what it is. This journey also makes Baby question who she is and her identity but also how little she knows about her heritage, background and Indian history. It changes her as a person. Before her journey she never told her colleagues her real name as she was embarrassed and ashamed but on her return she tells them her real name. One theme that is portrayed so well in this book is one of identity as Baby clearly struggles with growing up in Britain but also being true to her Punjabi roots. She would feel embarrassed about eating certain foods and wearing cultural clothing but as she gets older she starts to embrace who she really is wearing her Indian clothing with pride.
A must read and one of my favourite books of the year.
July 12, 2023
‘Baby Does A Runner’ is a fabulous look at self-identity, family history and how the past shapes us in the present. It was a fun and light read but it does delve into heavy topics that are hardly discussed in the UK. It has the humour and romance but it also has soul, feminism at it's core and a hopeful feel to it. I devoured this book in a day and stayed up until 2 am to finish it!
Baby is scunnered and needs to change her life. She is a young Asian woman living in Manchester with a great job and owns her own flat. But life is boring and she feels flat. She is fed up with her job and being passed over for promotions, her love life is permanently casual and she is grieving for her dad who passed away two years ago. Her mother and her aunties are constantly on her back to settle down, get married and have children. When Baby finds some love letters between her grandfather and a woman she knows nothing about and is clearly not her Dadima. This is the catalyst to travel to India to try and find out about this woman and find out about her history. What better time to do a runner?
Baby is a brilliant character - the new modern young Asian girl who seems to have it all but does she? There is still pressure to perform the ultimate female duty of getting married and procreating, but she has feet in both cultures and is finding it hard to find her own self-identity. Is she British, British Asian or Asian? Where is home? Although this is a fun take of the situation it will have hit home for many Asian readers in a way it won't for others. I adored the relationship Baby had with her Dadima. It was beautiful and heartfelt. It felt very true, as if it was the most important in the book.
I absolutely adored all the history in this book, both Baby’s family history and the section dealing with Partition. Plus, I studied the Amritsar massacre as my dissertation at college and more people need to know about this horrible event. So I always love (weird wording I know) when I see that someone addresses this in their work. It is such a hidden detail of the history of the Raj. I remember standing in that park at age 15 with my mother and raging at the injustice of it all, just like Baby. I also loved the section when they visit the Golden Temple as I had the exact same emotions as Baby. It might not be my religion but I appreciate parts of it and despite being so busy there is this calm to the temple and the pool that surrounds it!
The only criticism I have and it's a tiny niggle at that is the romance side of the book. Baby was on a journey to discover herself and her family's past. Did she really need to rely on a man to achieve this? Don't get me wrong I loved Sid but I would have appreciated the story more if it was just her standing by herself at the end of the story. Content and happy. But it's a tiny niggle as I said and doesn't take away from the brilliance of this book.
Let me know if you pick this one up!
Baby is scunnered and needs to change her life. She is a young Asian woman living in Manchester with a great job and owns her own flat. But life is boring and she feels flat. She is fed up with her job and being passed over for promotions, her love life is permanently casual and she is grieving for her dad who passed away two years ago. Her mother and her aunties are constantly on her back to settle down, get married and have children. When Baby finds some love letters between her grandfather and a woman she knows nothing about and is clearly not her Dadima. This is the catalyst to travel to India to try and find out about this woman and find out about her history. What better time to do a runner?
Baby is a brilliant character - the new modern young Asian girl who seems to have it all but does she? There is still pressure to perform the ultimate female duty of getting married and procreating, but she has feet in both cultures and is finding it hard to find her own self-identity. Is she British, British Asian or Asian? Where is home? Although this is a fun take of the situation it will have hit home for many Asian readers in a way it won't for others. I adored the relationship Baby had with her Dadima. It was beautiful and heartfelt. It felt very true, as if it was the most important in the book.
I absolutely adored all the history in this book, both Baby’s family history and the section dealing with Partition. Plus, I studied the Amritsar massacre as my dissertation at college and more people need to know about this horrible event. So I always love (weird wording I know) when I see that someone addresses this in their work. It is such a hidden detail of the history of the Raj. I remember standing in that park at age 15 with my mother and raging at the injustice of it all, just like Baby. I also loved the section when they visit the Golden Temple as I had the exact same emotions as Baby. It might not be my religion but I appreciate parts of it and despite being so busy there is this calm to the temple and the pool that surrounds it!
The only criticism I have and it's a tiny niggle at that is the romance side of the book. Baby was on a journey to discover herself and her family's past. Did she really need to rely on a man to achieve this? Don't get me wrong I loved Sid but I would have appreciated the story more if it was just her standing by herself at the end of the story. Content and happy. But it's a tiny niggle as I said and doesn't take away from the brilliance of this book.
Let me know if you pick this one up!
October 20, 2025
I picked this up as a 'light read', and it was both an easy, light read and a heavy exploration of a character with all the trauma and identity crises of being a second-culture kid growing up in Britain with an unknown ancestral history. This is very relatable for many poc who grew up in the UK (like me), but I wish it spent more words diving into that and unfolding the mystery of the letters rather than the forced proximity set-up romance that felt contrived and predictable.
I simply didn't care about Sid as a romantic interest, but then again I'm not partial to enemies-to-lovers, since I find it annoying that some arrogant man being a complete dickhead can completely win over a 'clueless' woman within three weeks. With the way he is introduced, it doesn't make sense that they would even be interested in each other, apart from maybe a physical attraction, since they have such different worldviews and judgements. I get that Rani was probably guided to add this to make it 'more commercial', but it was rushed and frankly annoying, undermining the feminist values it is trying to portray. They never talk about how different they are. They have a random shag and then that's it – they're together. The romance ultimately pleases/aligns with the misogynistic values of Baby's family, which she is of course relieved about, but doesn't seem to have any conflicting feelings about at all.
I must commend this novel for introducing readers to the dark history of Partition and highlighting the atrocities committed by British colonial power in India. There are some banging one-liners that show the absurdity of how horrific violence can be set off by the flick of some white man's pen. I knew basically nothing about British India and it inspired me to do more research on the topic. British kids don't get taught any of this, and Baby having so much internalised racism is sadly very common.
It has great bones and an obviously authentic voice, but lacked finesse and the pacing was off. The last few chapters could've broken my heart if those involved were given more air time. There were a few missed errors in proofreading that diluted the impact of some moments, but hey, editors are really busy.
Definitely recommend reading – it's interesting enough and a good example of a brown character in the 'moaning millennial' genre – but don't expect a literary deep dive. I think it's a good piece of publishing that can lure in unsuspecting rom-com readers to think more deeply about how Britain was made.
Would love to learn more about Ruchi and how she's navigating her /untraditional leanings/ within a conservative culture, with a mum that perpetuates all the oppressive expectations that she can't happily live out. I get it if Anita Rani doesn't feel equipped to write about that, though. This is a very heterosexual, very binary book for straight people in a straight world (not a criticism, obvs, just a fact).
3.5* read overall.
I simply didn't care about Sid as a romantic interest, but then again I'm not partial to enemies-to-lovers, since I find it annoying that some arrogant man being a complete dickhead can completely win over a 'clueless' woman within three weeks. With the way he is introduced, it doesn't make sense that they would even be interested in each other, apart from maybe a physical attraction, since they have such different worldviews and judgements. I get that Rani was probably guided to add this to make it 'more commercial', but it was rushed and frankly annoying, undermining the feminist values it is trying to portray. They never talk about how different they are. They have a random shag and then that's it – they're together. The romance ultimately pleases/aligns with the misogynistic values of Baby's family, which she is of course relieved about, but doesn't seem to have any conflicting feelings about at all.
I must commend this novel for introducing readers to the dark history of Partition and highlighting the atrocities committed by British colonial power in India. There are some banging one-liners that show the absurdity of how horrific violence can be set off by the flick of some white man's pen. I knew basically nothing about British India and it inspired me to do more research on the topic. British kids don't get taught any of this, and Baby having so much internalised racism is sadly very common.
It has great bones and an obviously authentic voice, but lacked finesse and the pacing was off. The last few chapters could've broken my heart if those involved were given more air time. There were a few missed errors in proofreading that diluted the impact of some moments, but hey, editors are really busy.
Definitely recommend reading – it's interesting enough and a good example of a brown character in the 'moaning millennial' genre – but don't expect a literary deep dive. I think it's a good piece of publishing that can lure in unsuspecting rom-com readers to think more deeply about how Britain was made.
Would love to learn more about Ruchi and how she's navigating her /untraditional leanings/ within a conservative culture, with a mum that perpetuates all the oppressive expectations that she can't happily live out. I get it if Anita Rani doesn't feel equipped to write about that, though. This is a very heterosexual, very binary book for straight people in a straight world (not a criticism, obvs, just a fact).
3.5* read overall.
July 10, 2023
I was drawn to the book by its vibrant striking cover and was expecting a fairly generic romcom but ‘Baby Does A Runner’ was so much more, a beautifully heartfelt and personal tale that covers family, both those that are close and those on the other side of the world, your ancestors and their experiences and how that resonates in you, wrapped up with trying to find out who you are and what your place is in the world.
Baby is in her mid-thirties, stuck in a fairly mundane PR job in Manchester, in a situationship with a colleague, despite her mother’s attempts to encourage her to settle down. Baby knows she needs to make some life changes but is unsure what to do. She finds some old love letters to her grandfather from his first wife, who Baby had never heard about, and discovers that her grandfather had had a family before he’d left India. Baby feels this is a sign she needs to go and investigate what happened to his first family and connect with her personal history.
She starts her journey in the bosom of her family, staying with her aunty and cousins. I loved this part of the book, with Baby’s assumptions about life in modern India being challenged at every corner, and the way that her aunt and cousins immediately enveloped her in love and acceptance.
Their close neighbour Sid (tall, dark, handsome, natch) offers to accompany Baby to Amritsar to find out more about her family. Their long car journey is stilted at first but they get used to one another, even surviving a night at a farm in the middle of the countryside when Sid’s car breaks down.
Sid is keen to share his knowledge about Indian history with Baby, sometimes mocking her (unnecessarily I felt) for not knowing her own history. Through a combination of his insights and her own learning, Baby learns more about Partition, and how this brutal part of India’s colonial history ripped families including her own apart. I know almost nothing about Partition and am definitely inspired to find out more having read this book.
I felt a connection with Baby’s search to find out more about her family’s past; as the first generation of children of parents who left their home country, I feel the sense of loss at not knowing my own history, and felt happy for Baby that her bravery on her own journey solidified her sense of self and her appreciation for all of the generations that have been before.
This all makes it sound quite heavy but it’s a much lighter book than it might seem – and of course, there’s the blossoming romance with Sid....
Baby is in her mid-thirties, stuck in a fairly mundane PR job in Manchester, in a situationship with a colleague, despite her mother’s attempts to encourage her to settle down. Baby knows she needs to make some life changes but is unsure what to do. She finds some old love letters to her grandfather from his first wife, who Baby had never heard about, and discovers that her grandfather had had a family before he’d left India. Baby feels this is a sign she needs to go and investigate what happened to his first family and connect with her personal history.
She starts her journey in the bosom of her family, staying with her aunty and cousins. I loved this part of the book, with Baby’s assumptions about life in modern India being challenged at every corner, and the way that her aunt and cousins immediately enveloped her in love and acceptance.
Their close neighbour Sid (tall, dark, handsome, natch) offers to accompany Baby to Amritsar to find out more about her family. Their long car journey is stilted at first but they get used to one another, even surviving a night at a farm in the middle of the countryside when Sid’s car breaks down.
Sid is keen to share his knowledge about Indian history with Baby, sometimes mocking her (unnecessarily I felt) for not knowing her own history. Through a combination of his insights and her own learning, Baby learns more about Partition, and how this brutal part of India’s colonial history ripped families including her own apart. I know almost nothing about Partition and am definitely inspired to find out more having read this book.
I felt a connection with Baby’s search to find out more about her family’s past; as the first generation of children of parents who left their home country, I feel the sense of loss at not knowing my own history, and felt happy for Baby that her bravery on her own journey solidified her sense of self and her appreciation for all of the generations that have been before.
This all makes it sound quite heavy but it’s a much lighter book than it might seem – and of course, there’s the blossoming romance with Sid....
June 4, 2025
2.5 stars
I really like Anita Rani and had seen her promoting this book, so it had been on my list to pick up. I managed to snag a copy in a charity shop last year, and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since.
The story follows Baby, who’s fed up — with work, a non-committal love life, ongoing grief over her dad, and the relentless pressure from her family to settle down. When she discovers a series of love letters from her grandfather to a woman who isn’t her Nana, everything shifts. Determined to uncover the truth, Baby heads to India to trace her family’s secrets — and maybe find herself in the process.
I love reading stories that immerse me in different cultures, and this one is rich with Indian-British culture, religion, and the social expectations that come with them. The book doesn’t go out of its way to explain every detail for those unfamiliar with the culture — but honestly, I didn’t see that as a drawback. If anything, it felt authentic, and I imagine there’s a community of readers who will really appreciate that things aren’t over-explained.
That said, I struggled with the pacing. It took around 80 pages before the plot really started to build momentum. Since I was reading the hardback edition, those first 80 pages felt especially long. One of my pet peeves is inconsistent chapter lengths - some were 8 pages and others were more quite lengthy, and knowing I had 30 (long) pages before the next break didn’t exactly motivate me to keep going — especially when I was already feeling like the story was dragging.
The second half of the book felt like it suffered from an identity crisis. It began with such a strong sense of direction — Baby confidently setting out for India on a journey of self-discovery — but the plot seemed to drift, trying to double as a romance. For me, that romantic subplot didn’t add much and ended up muddying the story’s core themes.
Given that this is a relatively short novel, the ending felt rushed. As we approached the conclusion, it felt like the narrative threads were abandoned rather than naturally resolved. Although the epilogue did bring a sense of closure, the way things wrapped up overall felt a bit messy.
I feel a little sad about this one. It’s been on my "25 in 25" list all year, and I was sure I’d love it — but it just didn’t quite click for me.
That said, if you’re curious, it’s currently available in paperback as part of The Works’ 3 for £7.50 deal — could be a good one to throw into your haul.
I really like Anita Rani and had seen her promoting this book, so it had been on my list to pick up. I managed to snag a copy in a charity shop last year, and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since.
The story follows Baby, who’s fed up — with work, a non-committal love life, ongoing grief over her dad, and the relentless pressure from her family to settle down. When she discovers a series of love letters from her grandfather to a woman who isn’t her Nana, everything shifts. Determined to uncover the truth, Baby heads to India to trace her family’s secrets — and maybe find herself in the process.
I love reading stories that immerse me in different cultures, and this one is rich with Indian-British culture, religion, and the social expectations that come with them. The book doesn’t go out of its way to explain every detail for those unfamiliar with the culture — but honestly, I didn’t see that as a drawback. If anything, it felt authentic, and I imagine there’s a community of readers who will really appreciate that things aren’t over-explained.
That said, I struggled with the pacing. It took around 80 pages before the plot really started to build momentum. Since I was reading the hardback edition, those first 80 pages felt especially long. One of my pet peeves is inconsistent chapter lengths - some were 8 pages and others were more quite lengthy, and knowing I had 30 (long) pages before the next break didn’t exactly motivate me to keep going — especially when I was already feeling like the story was dragging.
The second half of the book felt like it suffered from an identity crisis. It began with such a strong sense of direction — Baby confidently setting out for India on a journey of self-discovery — but the plot seemed to drift, trying to double as a romance. For me, that romantic subplot didn’t add much and ended up muddying the story’s core themes.
Given that this is a relatively short novel, the ending felt rushed. As we approached the conclusion, it felt like the narrative threads were abandoned rather than naturally resolved. Although the epilogue did bring a sense of closure, the way things wrapped up overall felt a bit messy.
I feel a little sad about this one. It’s been on my "25 in 25" list all year, and I was sure I’d love it — but it just didn’t quite click for me.
That said, if you’re curious, it’s currently available in paperback as part of The Works’ 3 for £7.50 deal — could be a good one to throw into your haul.
July 10, 2023
I must confess I chose to read Baby Does A Runner on the basis that it was written by Anita Rani and from the title I think I expected some light and fluffy read - and whilst there is both romance and humour this is a book that delves so much deeper as it explores some complex issues around family, race and identity.
Baby is in her mid 30s and living a seemingly enviable life as a career woman in Manchester - though her lack of a husband is a worry to her an Indian family with very different expectations.
But she is still getting over the loss of her beloved father - and when she discovers letters belonging to her grandfather that suggest there is family history that has never been discussed, she decides it is time to visit India and learn more about her family. It proves to be a life changing trip in many ways.
At the heart of the book is her desire to learn more about her family but in doing so she begins to confront the complicated issue of her own identity and the struggles of not feeling 100% at home in either your adopted country or that of your ancestors. And the more I learn about Partition the more shocking its impacts on families becomes, something I admit to being somewhat ignorant about until relatively recently.
Anita Rani is to be applauded for combining some really serious issues, which feel very much from the heart, with some fabulous characterisation and a strong sense of place which, combined with the humour that runs throughout make for an entertaining read.
Baby is in her mid 30s and living a seemingly enviable life as a career woman in Manchester - though her lack of a husband is a worry to her an Indian family with very different expectations.
But she is still getting over the loss of her beloved father - and when she discovers letters belonging to her grandfather that suggest there is family history that has never been discussed, she decides it is time to visit India and learn more about her family. It proves to be a life changing trip in many ways.
At the heart of the book is her desire to learn more about her family but in doing so she begins to confront the complicated issue of her own identity and the struggles of not feeling 100% at home in either your adopted country or that of your ancestors. And the more I learn about Partition the more shocking its impacts on families becomes, something I admit to being somewhat ignorant about until relatively recently.
Anita Rani is to be applauded for combining some really serious issues, which feel very much from the heart, with some fabulous characterisation and a strong sense of place which, combined with the humour that runs throughout make for an entertaining read.
July 12, 2023
Baby Saul is on a mission...
Still mourning the loss of her father, Baby just wants a quiet birthday, but her mother and Dadima have other ideas. Making her escape Baby seeks her solace in her father's kambal, which she finds in her Dadima's peti. When she locates a bunch of letters addressed to her Grandad but not from his wife, her Dadima, she makes the decision that she needs to visit India to discover more of her ancestry. Who is the mysterious letter writer, what happened to her Grandfather's other children, are they still alive?
I took an instant dislike to Sid, he came across so arrogant at the beginning, but he grew on me a bit toward the end. Baby and her family were very much a traditional Indian family at heart, although Baby didn't seem to know much about her heritage, the British Rule of India and Partition. Surely this is something her parents would have educated her on?
I couldn't put the book down once I started following Baby's journey and devoured it yesterday afternoon.
Baby Does A Runner is an enjoyable and entertaining read and I look forward to reading more from Rani in the future.
Still mourning the loss of her father, Baby just wants a quiet birthday, but her mother and Dadima have other ideas. Making her escape Baby seeks her solace in her father's kambal, which she finds in her Dadima's peti. When she locates a bunch of letters addressed to her Grandad but not from his wife, her Dadima, she makes the decision that she needs to visit India to discover more of her ancestry. Who is the mysterious letter writer, what happened to her Grandfather's other children, are they still alive?
I took an instant dislike to Sid, he came across so arrogant at the beginning, but he grew on me a bit toward the end. Baby and her family were very much a traditional Indian family at heart, although Baby didn't seem to know much about her heritage, the British Rule of India and Partition. Surely this is something her parents would have educated her on?
I couldn't put the book down once I started following Baby's journey and devoured it yesterday afternoon.
Baby Does A Runner is an enjoyable and entertaining read and I look forward to reading more from Rani in the future.
November 20, 2025
I think it was an absolute marvellous and necessary read. As a descendant of East African Indians, the direct impact of partition on our family was never spoken about within our family, as my grandmothers born in India weren’t affected as far as I know, and everyone else was in Africa long before the troubles ensued. this book made me realise how deep that trauma runs. I spent my summer in the depths of literature around south asian generational trauma and so it was so important to me to get a creative perspective on that history, a tangible story, even if fictional, to understand how this trauma is passed down.
honestly, picked it up as a romance but enjoyed it for so much more.
i djd find the storyline and a couple plot twists somewhat predictable, but it doesn’t hugely take away from the plot. one of them however absolutely sucker punched me, so make sure you have tissues !!!
i loved it, and i think we need more fictionalised material around partition that still carries weight to truly help us understand individual circumstances of the devastation and heartbreak that 1947 caused.
honestly, picked it up as a romance but enjoyed it for so much more.
i djd find the storyline and a couple plot twists somewhat predictable, but it doesn’t hugely take away from the plot. one of them however absolutely sucker punched me, so make sure you have tissues !!!
i loved it, and i think we need more fictionalised material around partition that still carries weight to truly help us understand individual circumstances of the devastation and heartbreak that 1947 caused.
December 28, 2024
★彡[ʙᴀʙʏ ᴅᴏᴇꜱ ᴀ ʀᴜɴɴᴇʀ]彡★
By Anita Rani @itsanitarani
Blurb
Baby Saul has had it with just about everything. She's fed up with her job and her colleagues. Her love life is permanently casual, and underpinning everything is the grief of losing her much-loved dad. Oh, and if the aunties don't stop asking her when she's going to settle down and start having babies, she might just lose it.
When she finds some love letters between her grandfather and someone who is very clearly not her grandmother, Baby realises that she needs to know more. She heads to India to do some detective work on this mysterious other woman . . . and to find out a bit more about herself along the way. What she doesn't bargain for is Sid, her guide (and unwilling driver) being annoyingly handsome, with a knack for asking Baby the sort of questions that force her to look at what she really wants out of life.
I really enjoyed listening to the audio version of this book.
It was...
😅 Funny
🥰 Light hearted
💌 Interesting family tale
🇮🇳 Story of Self discovery
It's a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me! 🤓
By Anita Rani @itsanitarani
Blurb
Baby Saul has had it with just about everything. She's fed up with her job and her colleagues. Her love life is permanently casual, and underpinning everything is the grief of losing her much-loved dad. Oh, and if the aunties don't stop asking her when she's going to settle down and start having babies, she might just lose it.
When she finds some love letters between her grandfather and someone who is very clearly not her grandmother, Baby realises that she needs to know more. She heads to India to do some detective work on this mysterious other woman . . . and to find out a bit more about herself along the way. What she doesn't bargain for is Sid, her guide (and unwilling driver) being annoyingly handsome, with a knack for asking Baby the sort of questions that force her to look at what she really wants out of life.
I really enjoyed listening to the audio version of this book.
It was...
😅 Funny
🥰 Light hearted
💌 Interesting family tale
🇮🇳 Story of Self discovery
It's a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me! 🤓
August 22, 2023
Baby is 36, she's got her own flat, independence and a job she used to love. However in the eyes of her extended family Baby needs a husband and children. Discovering a cache of letters held by her grandma Baby decides that she needs to escape to 'find herself' and so visits her homeland of India. What she finds is more than she could ever imagine.
The start of this book is pure froth, albeit froth with a British Asian twist, and it's lightweight fun. The fun never leaves but the book has a lot more substance that I thought it would have. By addressing the reasons why so many Punjabis left India/Pakistan during Partition, Rani has opened up a sad story which also looks into prejudice on religious and caste grounds, not just about race. For that reason I really liked this book as the froth will draw in the casual reader but the meat on the bones makes it memorable.
The start of this book is pure froth, albeit froth with a British Asian twist, and it's lightweight fun. The fun never leaves but the book has a lot more substance that I thought it would have. By addressing the reasons why so many Punjabis left India/Pakistan during Partition, Rani has opened up a sad story which also looks into prejudice on religious and caste grounds, not just about race. For that reason I really liked this book as the froth will draw in the casual reader but the meat on the bones makes it memorable.
February 21, 2024
Finished this one the other day and throughly enjoyed it! The story follows Baby, a British Indian struggling with a self identify crisis related to work and boys. At a family party, she finds some letters between her grandfather and his first wife, and sets off on a mission to India to find out more.
The book was so easy to read but full of history about partitian, which was really interesting and I confess I don’t know much about.
I absolutely loved Baby and the themes in this book - including one which tackled the expectations on women to get married, especially in an Asian family. That said, this book definitely had a romantic flair and Baby’s trip to Indian does end with her finding a man, which some might resent for the predictability, but I found myself routing for Baby and Sid from day one!
The book was so easy to read but full of history about partitian, which was really interesting and I confess I don’t know much about.
I absolutely loved Baby and the themes in this book - including one which tackled the expectations on women to get married, especially in an Asian family. That said, this book definitely had a romantic flair and Baby’s trip to Indian does end with her finding a man, which some might resent for the predictability, but I found myself routing for Baby and Sid from day one!
August 27, 2025
The main character, Baby (Simran), struggled with her identity at the beginning of the book as a second generation Punjabi in Yorkshire, with her struggles of fitting in and micro-aggressions at work. Upon finding old family love letters, she embarks on a mission taking her to India and Pakistan to uncover her family’s roots - and in the process undergoes a personal transformation, embracing her cultural identity. The novel’s themes of patriarchy, women and partition are evident, demonstrating the extent of suffering that women underwent and often internalised after partition in order to start afresh and give opportunities to their children
January 12, 2024
2.5/ 5
I thought the premise of this would be interesting. The main character is researching her family history during time of partition in India, and there were parts of the story I was invested in but I could have done without the romance which felt fell flat and unbelievable.
Overall, the writing style wasn’t for me. First person narrative is not my favourite pov in general, and although the main character was 36, it felt like this was written for a younger audience. Everything felt over explained and overstated.
I thought the premise of this would be interesting. The main character is researching her family history during time of partition in India, and there were parts of the story I was invested in but I could have done without the romance which felt fell flat and unbelievable.
Overall, the writing style wasn’t for me. First person narrative is not my favourite pov in general, and although the main character was 36, it felt like this was written for a younger audience. Everything felt over explained and overstated.
November 1, 2025
I am really glad I came across this book as I’ve been thinking a lot about familial history and how colonialism has royally messed up our understanding and even ability to figure out where we came from and who we are.
Though for me it’s about a different colonial history, the feelings are the same, and I hope this kind of pain would be talked about more by our generation.
I am woefully undereducated on Indian history but I’d love to know more and books like these really help putting it all into context and showing how history affects us for generations to come. We need these conversations.
Though for me it’s about a different colonial history, the feelings are the same, and I hope this kind of pain would be talked about more by our generation.
I am woefully undereducated on Indian history but I’d love to know more and books like these really help putting it all into context and showing how history affects us for generations to come. We need these conversations.
May 5, 2024
OK, so it's a Romance. But I learned so much from this book about the Indian Partition and the creation of Pakistan; some truly disturbing stuff about women being moved across the border from their home towns according to their religion (Hindu or Muslim), then not being allowed back in later.
There was some interesting discourse on the way arranged marriages were seen by older people and by the their offspring.
There was some interesting discourse on the way arranged marriages were seen by older people and by the their offspring.
September 12, 2024
4.5 stars rounded down.
I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I started this one, but I ended up enjoying it much more than I thought I would. Only dropped points because I thought the ending was rushed, with half an hour to go I thought many things were going to be impossible, but the author did manage to cram them all in. Combined with a slow middle section the pacing was off. More thoughts to follow.
I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I started this one, but I ended up enjoying it much more than I thought I would. Only dropped points because I thought the ending was rushed, with half an hour to go I thought many things were going to be impossible, but the author did manage to cram them all in. Combined with a slow middle section the pacing was off. More thoughts to follow.
October 26, 2024
I really enjoyed this book and I learnt so much about the Partition in India, and the awful violence of this time.
The book deals sensitively with finding your identity, generational trauma and something I had not really thought much about…growing up in a predominantly white culture away from your homeland.
I’m glad I took a chance on this one, not knowing the author. The story was entertaining, the characters highly believable and the difficult issues carefully dealt with.
The book deals sensitively with finding your identity, generational trauma and something I had not really thought much about…growing up in a predominantly white culture away from your homeland.
I’m glad I took a chance on this one, not knowing the author. The story was entertaining, the characters highly believable and the difficult issues carefully dealt with.
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