New Delhi, Aug. 23 -- Amrita Mahale's debut novel, Milk Teeth, was set in Bombay (now Mumbai) of the 1990s. It followed the ups and downs of a close-knit Goud Saraswat Brahmin community in Matunga, a quiet downtown suburb back in the day, through the shifting dynamics of its central characters, Ira and Kartik. Her story went beyond feel-good nostalgia to dive into the impact of economic liberalisation on urban middle-class Indians, the values and morals they shed, and the ones they held on to. In the process, Milk Teeth became a novel about big ideas like the conflict between tradition and modernity, pieced together through small moments of epiphany.

Real Life, Mahale's much awaited new novel that has been six years in the making, moves ...