A fictional tale told in all the exotic and sensational colours of a Bollywood drama—though in the drama-movie version the sexual encounters in this story would be muted song-masked scenes of shy flirtations. Here, we get the Americanised full-exposure. The western style storytelling lays bare the ugliness without reserve or euphemism, accepts and forgives even the undeserving and unlikeable characters, glorifies the impossible rise of feminist ideals in mid-twentieth century India, and ultimately finds a happy ending for everyone.

Very much fiction.

I mean, it’s based on <i>a</i> reality, somewhere, but it’s fiction. And it’s entertaining, easily readable fiction.

It’s a story about two young girls fighting for their independence in a classist society prone to ignoring women of their status; it’s a story about the search for the meaning of true love; it’s a story teeming with 3D characters and a handful of flat foils; it paints a light brush across Northern settings that will pique a reader’s interest.

If someone wrote a sensational and colourful drama about Brampton, I’d think them delusional and full of outrageous and inaccurate fantasies….. but I’d also love to read it, just to see what <i>might</i> lie beneath the mundane normalcy of our bustling everyday blah blah blah…