The Immigrant, By Manju Kapur

Since her popular debut, Difficult Daughters, Manju Kapur has written a series of comic and worldly novels detailing the common concerns of middle-class Indian women, including a lesbian romance. Her fourth novel chronicles the lives of two NRIs (non-resident Indians), Nina and Ananda, and their newly-married life in 1970s Canada.

While Ananda finds it easy to exchange dhal for spare ribs, and Nina soon ditches her saris for sweat pants, what proves more difficult is adapting to the alien rituals of married life. A passionate woman, Nina is miffed to discover that her husband requires the spritzing effects of a dental anaesthetic spray to come up to the mark.