I am a big fan of Alka Joshi, I adored her Henna Artist Trilogy. I couldn’t wait to read this new standalone story
You are transported back to India. This time it is 1937, we meet Sona an Anglo-Indian nurse working in the Bombay Wadia Hospital.she is nursing Mira Novak a famous painter, who has suffered a miscarriage. Mira is in the hospital for six days. Sona and Mira become friends. Unfortunately Mira dies suddenly and Sona is blamed for her death. Sona is devastated. She is driven into scandal and mystery when a note is left for her to deliver three paintings to friends and former colleagues. But why?
Sona takes the journey as per Mira’s request to Prague, Florence and Paris.
It is a real life lesson for Sona who lived a sheltered existence.
This is a beautifully written and researched novel It is a compelling story with engaging characters.
This book has everything Historical Fiction, mystery and intrigue.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade for this advanced readers copy.

This story takes us to 1930s Bombay, India. India is currently occupied by the British but on the brink of independence. A young woman named Sona works in an English hospital as a nurse. She has no idea, though, that the friendship she strikes up with a special patient, Mira the painter, will change her life forever.

This book took me on a whirlwind journey across Asia and Europe and my desire to jump in a plane and go travel somewhere was loving every second of being immersed in Bombay, Prague, Paris and Florence.

However, I wasn’t completely obsessed with some of the actual storyline. It’s hard to completely put my feelings into words because there were moments I loved and I really enjoyed Sona’s journey and her wresting with being “half-half” (with a British father and an Indian mother) and the conversation around identity. But the storyline that dealt with Mira’s past wasn’t my absolute favorite.

This is my fourth Alka Joshi book and I will read whatever this woman writes!! 3.75 stars.

Six Days in Bombay was a lovely read from Alka Joshi and certainly my favorite book of hers!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Six Days in Bombay publishing might just be my favorite Alka Joshi novel. The way she weaves identity and self-discovery into the story is very poignant.

Sona Falstaff is a nurse in a Bombay hospital in the 1930s, a time when India's fight for independence from the British is at its peak. Half Indian and half British, Sona once saw her mixed heritage as an advantage. But as tensions rise, she’s forced to confront where she truly belongs. Enter Mira Novak and Dr. Stoddard, two of Sona’s patients who unknowingly become the catalysts for her transformation. How do they change her life?

The Bombay in this novel felt incredibly familiar to me. Having spent a lot of time there growing up, the places Alka Joshi describes brought back so many memories. It was like stepping into the past but seeing it through a new lens.

On a personal level, this book resonated deeply. I was born in India, but my children were born in America, and the struggle with identity is very real. Whether it was Sona, Mira, Petra, or Edward, their journeys showed how identity shapes our experiences but also how we can learn to embrace who we are. Sona’s character growth, especially through her travels in Europe, highlights that truly understanding someone (including yourself) requires looking beyond the surface.

I could go on and on about this book, but I’ll just say this it’s a beautifully written, deeply moving novel that I won’t forget anytime soon.

Thank you, Harlequin Trade Publishing, The Hive and Mira, for this book.

Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi is a novel set in Bombay and tells of the relationship between Mira, an artist, and Sona, her nurse in the hospital where Mira is recovering from a miscarriage. After six days of listening to Mira talk of her life as an artist and the people she has been involved with, she unexpectedly dies and leaves Sona with the task of taking four of her paintings to each of four people in Paris, Prague, Florence and London. As Sona, new to traveling outside of her country, meets each of these four people and finds much more about her friend Mina. The characters that Sona meets along the way and the locations she ends up in are well depicted and the story moves along well.

very talented and well-written story with some awesome vibes in this work of historical fiction. would definitely recommend. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Six Days in Bombay is a standalone novel by Alka Joshi.I loved her trilogy and was glad to have the chance to read this new book!It did not disappoint!It is the story of the connection between two women from different backgrounds.Mira Novak is a patient at Wadia hospital in Bombay and Sona Falstaff is her nurse.The story takes place as World War II is brewing.. Sona travels to Florence,Prague and Paris to deliver three paintings for Mira.The book has a great sense of place on her travels and you will enjoy smells.sounds and tastes!The book studies identity showing that things are not always what they first appear.SPOILER ALERT. I did wonder why Sona was not upfront about the parentage of her child when she was so upset about her own father’s secrets .I really enjoyed this book!Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Mira for allowing me to read this ARC.

Another book in Alka Joshi series about women in India. An Anglo-Indian nurse tries to clear her name when a patient dies on her watch.

The major theme of this book was about how certain people can come into your life for such a short time and have such big influences over the rest of your life. I found myself wishing that I were as brave as the main character to explore the people and places that she was led to... I enjoyed the various settings of this book (Bombay! Florence! London! Prague! Paris!) and enjoyed Sona's journey. I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sona Falstaff, a hospital nurse in Bombay, has things more or less where she wants them. Yes, she faces a certain discrimination, positive and negative, because of her mixed heritage, which makes her a “half-half” in the lingo of 1930s India. She lives in a poor section of the city, and she must work to support herself and her aging mother. India itself is a state of flux as the British Raj comes to an end and demands for independence increase in intensity and volume. But all in all, Sona wants nothing more than to cling to the job and the life she knows.

Yet when the painter Mira Novak is admitted to the hospital, she upends Sona’s carefully constructed world. Mira’s vibrancy, passion, and generosity awaken a yearning to explore that Sona didn’t even know she had. But just as she begins to cherish the possibility of friendship, Mira dies, six days after entering the hospital. The job Sona loves is threatened by suspicion that she somehow contributed to the painter’s death.

Sona soon discovers that Mira has left her a set of four paintings with instructions to deliver them to their rightful owners. Now she faces a choice: fight for her job and play it safe at home, or take a chance on finding her true self in the wider world, whatever risk that involves?

The contrast between Sona and Mira, the friendship that develops between them, and the slowly revealed history that lies beneath Sona’s reluctance to take chances are all beautifully laid out in this well-written novel, making it a delight to read.

I hope to chat with the author on the New Books Network (link below) in April 2025.

Six days in Bombay follows Sona, a nurse, as she is tasked with finding people from her patient’s past. The journey to find them takes her from Prague, to Paris to Florence. Along the way she learns about herself, her patient and the people flags meets along the way. She is also pushed to confront someone from her past.

Alka Joshi has a way to completely transport you to all of the places her characters visit. The way places are described visually as well as by scents and sounds gives the reader a full picture.

2/14/25: It is a fitting day (Valentine's Day) to have finished Alka Joshi's 4th novel after her Jaipur trilogy (The Henna Artist | The Secret Keeper of Jaipur | The Perfumist of Paris), as the novel is all about Main Character Sona, an early 20's woman living in 1930's Bombay, falling in love with life.

This 352-page novel (hardcover) is set to release April 15, 2025, and is a historical fiction with a straight forward timeline, no back and forth to modern day. It has a pretty clear plot line of Sona being exposed to and befriended by a very worldly, charismatic, and beautiful artist, Mira, during Mira's 6-day hospital stay when Sona cared for her as a nurse. Sona's circle is largely filled with "good" people, including her mother, other patients Sona befriends, one of the doctors and a hospital handyman. But she is a sheltered and fairly poor person, living alone with her seamstress mother with no support from her father.

Author Joshi weaves in couple different mystery situations, as well as suspicious characters who are not nice or possibly not nice, friends or possibly not friends? (the nurse at the hospital, her friend's husband, one of the doctors, her father, the hospital handyman), and several instances to demonstrate how women were (still are?) 2nd class citizens. She deepens the "othering" of Sona by making a "half/half" or a product of a white British father and an Indian mother.

The first half of the book centers on those 6-days in Bombay and establishing Sona's life situation and her developing friendship with Mira. Through Mira she begins to experience new things outside the world of her mother and nursing. The second half of the book takes us on a bit of a global adventure as Sona takes on a special request by Mira. Throughout the book there is a bit of romance as one would expect in a novel about a beautiful young woman, but it is not the central theme of the novel. Along the way some of Sona's beliefs are challenged and as she exposed to new people and new situations she begins to grow up, toughen up, and see the massive potential and opportunities of her life.

Joshi does a great job of making us see and feel Bombay and understand what Sona felt like as a young woman. She also does a subtle but compelling job of educating the reader on how India was controlled by Great Britain. The other thing she does well in this book is show how people are not black or white, all good or all bad. This concept is a key plot element for Sona's maturation through the novel.

The only thing I felt was a little out of place was one "sexy" scene in the book that felt a little graphic to me compared to the rest of the novel. It felt unlikely to me given the era and the influence of Indian culture, but I could be wrong. I would have been perfectly happy to have the scene happen with more allusion than description. Similarly, I felt the cover art on this copy was too "romance" vibe. I feel it would have been good to show her in her nurse uniform to establish she is more than just a beautiful woman, but smart and serious about having a career and earning money on her own.

Overall this is a great historical fiction combined with a coming of age era for our MC Sona. 4.5-stars rounded up. Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Publishing for providing a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

1/18/25: Yes! I was approved for a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!

1/17/25: Huge fan of Alka Joshi and had the great fortune to virtually meet her on a zoom author talk for her original 3-book series (she was lovely). So excited to enter the giveaway for her upcoming 4/15 new release, and have requested it on NetGalley. Hoping I get approved!!!

I really liked this historical fiction! The main character and host of secondary characters are endearing and I loved following along with the story. This was a quick read for me because I had to know what was happening next.

I was a little worried reading the description of this book that it might be sad, but although there are some sad things that happen the author really focuses on backstories and the positive that is happening.

Got about 30% in and had to DNF. Loved the Henna Artist and I can't help but compare and this one fell extremely flat. Nothing interesting was happening and the characters weren't interest enough to push through. Overall it was boring.

I received this book as an ARC for free from NetGalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

I previously read Alka Joshi’s The Henna Artist, and fell in love with the way Joshi immersed her readers into the story. While I forget many of the details of The Henna Artist, the soul of the story remains etched within me. The feeling the story invoked remains unscathed.

So naturally, I was overjoyed when I saw Joshi had written another book. Ecstatic doesn’t even begin to capture my emotions when I received the ARC. Perhaps it’s because I started Six Days in Bombay expecting to be transported to a whole another world, but the book kind of fell short of my expectations.

Sona’s relationship with Mira seems almost… artificial. It didn’t feel authentic. Nor did it feel realistic. It almost felt like an obsession. To travel to Europe all for the word of a woman you’ve only known for 6 days seems ridiculous.

However, it was a quick read that was still enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC.
I was thrilled when I received an advance reading copy (ARC) of Alka Joshi’s new book. I was eager to dive into it and found the writing style to be accessible. Set in pre-independence India, the book is a piece of historical fiction. Like Joshi’s previous works, it centers on a female protagonist who navigates numerous challenges and ultimately achieves success. Unfortunately, I struggled to connect with the character, and the book’s portrayal seemed somewhat idealized.

A beautiful novel that takes you through Bombay and Europe in the 1930s before Indias independence. When famous painter Mira Novak arrives at Wadia hospital due to a miscarriage, nurse Sona is charged with her care. During her stay her life stories, friendship and half Indian heritage bring the two women close. Sona is in awe of Mira's larger than life view of the world and longs to experience it herself. When Mira dies suddenly Sona is dealt a blow by the hospital and must decide what she will do with her life. Mira has left her paintings with a cryptic note to Sona asking her to deliver them to former friends and lovers throughout Europe while the countries are at the verge of a war.
A novel that emits laughter and heartache I was drawn in from the first page. Once again Alka Joshi has taken my breath away with a novel you won't soon forget.

Beautiful writing and storytelling by Alka Joshi. It transforms me into a different place, culture, and it’s so enlightening.

Sona, a hard-working night-shift nurse faces challenges in life due to being half-Indian and half-English. Abandoned by her English father at three years old, she and her mother do their best to make ends meet. Then, Sona meets a patient, Mira Novak, a well-known painter, who is also Anglo-Indian and encourages Sona to dream bigger. Her six days caring for this patient will lead Sona to undertake a life-changing journey.

Six Days in Bombay depicts life in Bombay between the world wars and the fascinating politics of that time in India, while also representing the every day life of our main character. I enjoyed following Sona as her world widens and new possibilities present themselves. In the first half, we are firmly rooted in Bombay and then in the second half we get to travel through Europe with Sona. I’ve loved all of Joshi’s novels thus far and this one does not disappoint.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I read The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi a few years ago and liked it but didn't love it. I could see that there was a lot to like in her writing so I was excited to try another book of hers and I wasn't disappointed.

Six Days in Bombay tells the story of Sona Falstaff, a young nurse living in India. Her mother is an Indian woman and her father was an Englishman who ultimately left the family when she was 3. After a patient of hers dies, Sona heads off on a journey of self discovery across Europe.

I really liked the way Sona was written; I felt it was very reflective of her lived experience, although the cultural accuracy I can't speak to as a white American woman. I also appreciated the exploration of what it was like for someone of mixed heritage to live in India in the 1930's.

Because of the time period of the book, Ms. Joshi also touches on some of the political turmoil that was starting in Europe at the time. I think those reminders are incredibly timely right now and they were woven into the book so seamlessly.

The book spends some time reflecting on how we often don't fully know a person. We just know the parts of them that they want us to see and I think that's such a powerful idea to reflect on. Sometimes they also show us the parts of themselves that they need us to see. I think that's a lesson Sona learns by the end of the book.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed the book. I do wish there would have been more exploration into the character Rebecca and I was a little skeptical on how quickly characters were able to travel, find each other, and get in contact. It required a little suspension of disbelief for me. The book was well worth that disbelief though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC for review. All opinions are honest and my own.