Baby Does a Runner

Beautiful, haunting, funny, incredibly relatable and topical. Everything I wanted it to be, and more.

Sophisticated and pacy, Anita Rani's debut novel follows Baby Saul on a journey from Yorkshire to India to solve the mystery of the love letters she finds amongst her late grandfather's belongings.

Anita has you rooting for Baby throughout every step of her journey as she travels 4,000 miles not just to find the truth behind the secret love letters, but to find out the answers to her own questions about her family, culture and identity. From Manchester to Yorkshire, Delhi, Amritsar and eventually Lahore, Baby's journey is one that not only uncovers her family history, but it also uncovers the stories of the forgotten women of Partition.

Oozing authenticity to the point where it feels like a memoir, Baby does a Runner is about family, love and loss.... history, colonialism, religion... and it's also about the secrets and trauma that the generations before us harboured with intense stoicism. Tears filled my eyes at least three times whilst reading this, but it wasn't all doom and gloom - how can it be with 'illuminaunties' around - the aunties who watch your every move and pressure you to get married!Tasneem Abdur-Rashid, author of Finding Mr Perfectly Fine