Talking Location With … Ben Shepherd: SOUTH LONDON
A novel of adventure and hardship set across INDIA
25th September 2026
The Girl With The Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup, a novel of adventure and hardship set across INDIAThis is a story that takes the reader to Delhi, Punjab, Goa, Kottayam and Mumbai.
At the heart of the story is Devi, whose early days were spent in the slum quarter of Rail Basti in Delhi. She is soon left to her own devices as an orphan and through a series of miscalculations and fortuitous encounters, she meanders through her life, bagging one adventure after another and meting out justice as she sees fit.
As the novel opens, she is being held captive and her captor is walking her through her seven lives, auctioning her off to the highest bidder. In each case there is someone who is more than willing toget redress through this bizarre process. And they are willing to pay her captor a large amount of money for the privilege of getting revenge.
In many ways this is a light hearted novel with Devi – who morphs into Deepa and Deeba, Dasmeet and Deepthi, Diana and Dolly (depending on where her latest adventure has taken her and who her newly invented person will be). But it also underlines how vulnerable the people at the lower end of the caste system are, how heartless society can be and how men are so often the main tormentors and abusers of women.
A really immersive read, written with gusto and tremendous observation. A worthy successor to Slumdog 
Millionaire.
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