The Wrong Way Home

by Shunali Khullar Shroff

At forty, Nayantara is blindsided by her celebrity ex-husband's second marriage to a hot, young influencer on the heels of a divorce that leaves her broke, single and discarded by the society she once thrived in.
Desperate to prove she's still relevant, Nayan sets out to rebuild her PR business chasing power, money and visibility with a hunger she didn't know she possessed. Among the clients she sets out to restitute are an aging movie star terrified of irrelevance, a politician in urgent need of image rescue, and a socialite with small-town roots trying to reinvent herself as a cultural tastemaker.
In the middle of this, Nayan is pulled between two men. One offers steadiness and clarity. The other is charm, glitter and temptation. Buffeted by the contradictions of ambition and love, right and wrong, Mumbai's relentless hustle and Landour's quieter pull, she must decide what really matters in a world obsessed with appearances.

324 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 2, 2025

Reviews

[Shalloo Walia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wrong Way Home by Shunali Khullar Shroff is an engaging, witty, and thoughtfully written novel about second chances, self-worth, and starting over when life doesn’t go as planned.

At forty, Nayantara’s world comes crashing everything when her celebrity ex-husband marries a much younger influencer soon after their divorce, leaving her broke, single, and quietly discarded by the elite social circle she once belonged to. Reeling from the loss of status and security, Nayan is desperate to prove that she still matters. Her solution: rebuilding her struggling PR business.

While the novel does include a romantic dilemma between two very different men, the true heart of the story lies in Nayan’s professional journey. Watching her revive her PR agency was the most engaging part of the book for me. Her client roster is a wonderfully messy mix of insecurities and image crises. The way Nayan handles their egos, anxieties, and scandals is commendable.

The book is humorous and satirical, but it also lands some sharp punches, especially in its portrayal of social media.

I really loved Nayantara as a character. She begins the novel steeped in self-pity, but what makes her journey compelling is her conscious decision to take control of her life. The best part of the book is how Shroff transforms pity into power.

Shroff’s writing is superb—light, easy, and often hilarious—yet it never shies away from the hard realities of being a woman in a materialistic world.

The Wrong Way Home is an easy, entertaining read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[a_geminireader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some books don’t just tell a story , they hold space for you. They sit with you in your quiet moments and gently remind you that you’re not alone in feeling the way you do.

This book felt exactly like that. Nayantara’s journey is not only about divorce or rebuilding life at forty; it’s about the invisible fears we rarely say out loud , the fear of becoming irrelevant, the longing to be seen and desired again, and the exhaustion of constantly proving your worth to the world. Her self-doubt, emotional spirals, and moments of quiet courage feel achingly real, making it impossible not to root for her.

What makes this story truly special is the warmth and humour threaded through its rawness. Even in moments of heartbreak, the writing never feels heavy or bleak. Instead, it reminds you that laughter and vulnerability can coexist, and that healing often arrives in small, imperfect steps. The supporting characters add depth and comfort, creating a world that feels familiar, flawed, and deeply human.

At its core, this is a story about choosing yourself not dramatically, but honestly. About understanding that starting over isn’t a sign of failure, but of self-respect and bravery. If you’ve ever felt stuck between who you were and who you’re becoming, this book will feel like a gentle companion, offering reassurance, empathy, and hope long after the last page.

[Rahul Vishnoi · Rating 5 out of 5]

-Effortlessly Funny & Relentlessly Entertaining-
Review of 'The Wrong Way Home' by Shunali Khullar Shroff

Quote Alert
"𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐈'𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐈'𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐉𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐈 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐤 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐧. 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐱 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧."


Why would you be interested in the life of a forty something divorced woman who's struggling with self doubt, almost on the verge of giving up to find love and is striving to make ends meet? Who's stalking her ex and his current online but jumps behind dusty busbougainvillea when she sees her offline. Because that's the stuff entertaining stories are made of. Take just the right amount of self doubt and self pity, and slather them generously in a solid veneer of humour and wit. Then sprinkle it with a potential love interest. Want more masala? Ok let's make it a triangle then.

So what is it about? Nayantara is divorced but on the first anniversary of their divorce , her ex husband marries a young influencer. She can't help spiral into a tide of hopelessness. Everything seems to be going wrong for her. Her work life, her personal life: all are shot to hell. But she picks herself up, supported by her friend Rishi and her mother who, living in Landour, is hell bent on getting a match for her. Soon, as she grappels to put her life back on track, she finds two suitors. Who will she go with? How will her life turn out to be? Well, I am not going to tell you everything here. Pick up the book and find out more.

It's a rare gift to be a storyteller. And even rarer is the one where the quill is blessed with an ability to pull smiles across the cheeks. Shunali writes with a giddy abandon. You can't help but smile throughout. This one made me laugh out loud:
"So this is who my mother wants me to date. Imagine the papers reporting,'Jay Sarabhai and wife seen having dinner at Cap Eden Roc near Cannes with Quentin Tarantino, and his ex-wife spotted buying vegetables from a wholesale market with a yeti!'"
And this:
"I was told divorced women in their forties are considered a great catch! 'Don't worry, Nayantara,' I've heard people tell me. "This is the right age to start all over; women at forty are way more desirable than younger girls? Where, I want to know. Must be on the North Pole because, sir, in the world that I inhabit, middle-aged men seem to want to marry only teenagers."


But I must warn you. This trip is going to be bloody. Not papercuts but you might sustain some superficial gashes from the razor sharp wit of Shunali Khullar Shroff. Since the story is about divorced woman, the author leaves sharp observations and comments on the societal opinion as well as patriarchal mindset. She takes no prisoners and strikes at everyone:
"I get it. That's a polite way of saying now that you're divorced, please don't be a slut and bring men up here and have hot sex with them. How do I tell this woman that at this point in my life I'm as far away from having hot sex with men as Pluto is from the sun. I mean Pluto isn't even considered a planet anymore; they're now referring to it as an object in the Kuiper belt. That's how far removed I am from having any 'hot' escapades with men. It's like I've drifted off into a whole different cosmic realm of singlehood."

The protagonist takes potshot at herself too. Have a look:
"Now I understand why women my age start showing cleavage to attract men. It is an undeniable truth, isn't it, that women's hearts never quite catch up with their ageing bodies, and therein lies the predicament. One day I will be sixty and then nobody except men with walking sticks and teeth that smile at you from inside glass bowls at night will look at me. If you think about it, it is cruel that one's old age is three times longer than ones youth."

The author takes time setting up the plot. Instead of jumping straight into the story, she takes time to set up the characters and then goes to weave the story tightly around these characters that will matter as the story progresses. Have a look at the one liners that define the characters as well as make you laugh out loud:
"Ma is like an older, more genuine version of Gwyneth Paltrow, minus the penchant for hawking candles that supposedly smell like one's nether regions."
A conversation between Nayantara's friend Rishi and her mother is quite well written. The author has put ample spotlight on the side characters too.

These nuances and detailing of the characters however don't affect the pace of the story. She keeps her characters crisp without letting the layering affect the story. By setting the story in different towns, she keeps the story on its toes. Had a great time reading it.

It's a delight to read and author's work who's at the top of her game. Khullar Shroff's prose is sharp and smooth at the same time. Like a quill searing through butter.

[Neeti · Rating 5 out of 5]

🍀Book - The Wrong Way Home
🍀 Author - Shunali Khullar Shroff

🍀Plot- Six years of married life came to an end, and the divorce left Nayantara heartbroken. Her ex-husband married a beautiful, glamorous influencer who was twenty years younger. People pitied her, and her PR business was on the verge of collapse.

At forty, Nayantara had to endure all of this. It seemed to her as though being a divorcée was a crime. People either consoled her or came up with proposals for her to get married again.

She worried about her mother, thinking she would be upset, but nothing of the sort happened. Her mother was happy that Nayantara had managed to pull herself out of a marriage that had become a burden.

Now, Nayantara wanted to re-establish her PR firm and become successful, so she could bask in the glory of her achievements and show her ex—and the whole world—what she was capable of.

Through hard work, wise decisions, and the support of her family and friends, she worked to make her firm stand out.

On the personal front, however, she found herself attracted to two men—one a Prince Charming–like movie star, and the other a mature man, a father to a daughter, clear in his thoughts and reliable in nature.

Whom will she choose?
Will she be able to prove herself on the professional front too?

🍀Review - The book talks about modern life, the hustle of Mumbai, and the peace of Landour. It is humorous, satirical, and poignant, and it hits you instantly. The character of Nayantara feels incredibly real, and her life is highly relatable. The people who surround her—her family and friends—are perfectly placed by the author.

In fact, I was surprised by how the author chose Mumbai and Landour, two completely contrasting places, to represent two contrasting human mindsets. The impact of social media and the way it penetrates our lives comes across like a punch—you simply can’t escape it.

The best part of the book is how the author turns pity into power. The strongest answer to everyone who points fingers at you is to become successful and powerful in life.

I loved this book so much that I finished it in just two days. I absolutely loved Nayantara—her character has everything: wisdom, charm, practicality, humility, firmness, and a heart filled with love.

[Sonia Bahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shunali Khullar Shroff writes with a wink and a smile… and acute insight. She takes on uncomfortable, deeply human truths and delivers the emotional hit via a Trojan horse: razor-sharp wit. There’s a brilliant moment of realisation for Nayan, her recently divorced forty-something protagonist, who observes that her ex-husband keeps getting invited to parties, “whereas our close friends started retreating from me like I’d shown up straight from the Wuhan airport with a cough. Rejection by society hurt almost as much as the failure of my marriage.”

The writing is nimble, intelligent, and effortless. There are more punchlines tossed into these pages than a late-night host manages with a full team of writers.

The Wrong Way Home explores what happens when life veers off script for a woman of a certain age: the small humiliations, the quiet rejections, the constant need to recalibrate, to improve. While her ex blithely moves on by marrying a glamorous influencer half his age, Nayan is subjected to well-meaning but condescending advice and set-ups with spectacularly uninspiring men. There is pathos here, but we never wallow in it, because the talented Ms Shroff always earns the laugh. Like when Nayan neatly sums up one such encounter: “I tell her I have no doubt he’d be considered charming in certain countries just as haggis is a delicacy in Scotland. But he’s not for me.”

Sharp without being brittle and funny without being frivolous, The Wrong Way Home is truth-telling wrapped in warmth, and proof that clever, self-deprecating humour can help you see, say, and survive almost anything.

[Sakshi Agarwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wrong Way Home by Shunali Khullar Shroff is a smart, witty, and relatable novel about reinvention, heartbreak, and finding one’s footing after life takes an unexpected turn. Centered on Nayantara, a 40-year-old PR professional navigating divorce, career chaos, and modern relationships, the story blends humour with sharp social observations. The writing is crisp, engaging, and refreshingly honest, capturing the pressures of age, relevance, and self-worth in urban India. With memorable characters and laugh-out-loud moments balanced by emotional depth, this book is an entertaining yet thoughtful read about choosing yourself, even when the path feels like the wrong way home.