Praise for Bitter Sweets
Nominated for the Orange Award for New Writers, 2007:

"Witty, thought-provoking, sad and uplifting"
Sunday Telegraph

"Charming...hugely enjoyable, brilliantly plotted"
Jackie Kay, Chair of Orange Award New Writers 2007

"Roopa Farooki is already being called the next Zadie Smith.
But Bitter Sweets is so thoroughly absorbing that Farooki proves she
needs no comparison. Bitter Sweets is a piercing examination of the
blurry lines between love and desire, truth and self-protection and
guilt and redemption.Farooki tells a vivid, unforgettable story"
BookPage (US)

"Absolutely delicious...
an astonishing debut...with a fantastic cast of characters"
Paul Blezard, OneWord Radio

"Combining the cultural heritage of Monica Ali's Brick Lane with the
intimate humour of family life in Rody Doyle's ndovels, Farooki explores complex and sensitive issues of ethnic difference, the values of family,
and attitudes to relationships in an enlightening and tender way"
Easy Living

"Sparkling, fresh debut ..
Farooki's vibrant characters leap off the page and straight into
the imagination in this clever and intricate novel"
Booklist (starred review, US)

"A major fiction debut, both commercial and literary..
charmingly entertaining on the one hand, and with serious points
to make about human behaviour on the other"
Publishing News

"(A) fizzy debut…this boisterous, multigenerational tale...works quite
nicely on its own wit and narrative flair. Ms. Farooki creates the strong suspicion that she is not bound by circumstance and could tell a
story about any kind of people… the characters succeed beautifully at entrapping themselves in lovelorn deceit. Despite its emphasis
on deception, dislocation and the loss of love, her book retains a cheery consistency: It has managed to be sunnily devious from the start. And it delivers a refreshing message. Only by means of all their elaborate deceptions do these characters figure out who they really are."
New York Times

"Farooki pulls off a lightly spun epic tale with effortless charm and more
than enough delightful twists to keep pages turning."
Publishers Weekly (US)