Parul Sharma

The Missing Piece in @the_hindu Best Books of April 2026, among a thoughtful set of reads. Keeping excellent company.

Sukanya and her ancestral mohalla made it to @livemintlounge today.

@scroll_in has been kind to me again. An excerpt of The Missing Piece has appeared in it. It is also the first chapter of the book. So if you’d like to get a glimpse of this world, please head to the link in bio.

Ever since I read "17 Morris Road" by @parul , I have been in love with her writing style. That book was such a beautiful and emotional reading experience for me that I was genuinely excited when she sent me The Missing Piece, published by Hachette India. And honestly, that excitement stayed with me throughout this book too. The Missing Piece follows an eighteen-year-old London-born girl named Sukanya who returns to her ancestral home in Meerut, where she finds herself caught between memories, belonging, identity, and the emotional weight of family history. Through her journey, the novel explores what it truly means to call a place “home” and how deeply people can feel connected to places they barely know or have never truly experienced before. What makes this novel so beautiful is the way it captures nostalgia and emotional displacement. Reading it sometimes feels like walking through fading memories and old emotions hidden inside places and relationships. The characters feel emotionally real and layered, and their struggles feel deeply internal rather than melodramatic. What I love most about Parul Sharma's writing is how quietly emotional it is. She does not rely on dramatic moments to make the reader feel something. Instead, she creates emotions through atmosphere, relationships, memories, and small human moments that stay with you long after reading. Her writing carries emotional depth while still feeling simple, warm, and immersive, and the narration often feels cinematic without becoming heavy. #bookreview #fiction

“This was the small town dream- to escape it at all costs, until they did, and then spent their lives being homesick for it” These lines from The missing piece hit home so much. As someone who was born and raised in a small town, the urge to escape its confines grew stronger every day. Until I landed in a big city, I realised that my small town life was enough and now here I am homesick for the hometown of my childhood which has changed but also not so much. ~ The missing piece is about a London born and raised Sukanya, who grew up hearing stories about Bulandwada from her father. Her parents have eloped and married, defying the societal norms, so Sukanya grows up without ever knowing her family, her extended relatives and yearns to find that missing piece of herself in her father’s stories. Sukanya finally gets a chance to visit Bulandwada she had heard so much about, she finally steps into the world she was so lovingly told about. A lively mohalla that quickly takes her into its fold, a number of chachis and chachas, the sights and smells, and the underlying hypocrisies of society which somehow coexists! Sukanya easily fits into the mohalla like a missing piece of a jigsaw! ~ Sharma’s prose is lyrical, she makes Bulandwada come alive through her writing. I myself craved to visit that place! She has written so lovingly about the sights and the smells so typical to an Indian small town. She has that keen eye and attention to detail which brought out the emotional as well as the sheer beauty of Bulandwada. Sometimes, inheritance is not about money, houses or land, sometimes it’s the homesickness that your parents unknowingly pass on to you which becomes a part of your identity. A beautiful book to get lost into, I highly recommend this one. DON’T MISS IT! 4.5🌟 #thebookishtalesreviews #themissingpiece #parulsharma #indianliterature

This might be my favourite read from May!! The missing piece quietly came and catapulted itself into one of my favourites!! Full review to follow soon, but please read this one. I promise you will love it 🥰 ~ Parul Sharma @parul I can’t thank you enough for writing this wonderful book 🥹🥹 #thebookishtalesreads #themissingpiece #parulsharma #indianliterature

I think I might have found the most comforting fiction author this year @parul ’s prose comes from a place of nostalgia, places we dearly wish to go back to and everything is woven with care and aplomb. If you haven’t read her work you are missing out on so much bookish goodness Don’t believe me read and let me know what you felt! I even found my beloved Doon in the pages of 17 Morris Road Cannot recommend more! Thanks Parul and @hachette_india for sending over the books but my impressions and review is completely my unbiased opinion and are no way influenced by the publisher or author #fiction #reading #bookstagram #books #indianfiction

A message for friends of The Missing Piece! And lovely lurkers, reading everything in silence, I see you too! Now would be a good time to emerge briefly and help the book travel. Come on, don’t be a stranger!

@parul This is not a book. It’s so real it feels like it’s happening around you. I read most of it with moist eyes and a lump in the throat. In the vast tapestry, you keep seeing glimpses of yourself and the people you love. To me it was a magnificent jigsaw puzzle of stories - I just had to move a few pieces around and it came alive, walked out of the pages almost. Theres always a Bade Papa in the family, whose son married without their consent, or went overseas and never returned. Or returned too late. The broken mother. The adopted “son” who’s perhaps still the outsider. The intimidating English classics-wielding Jim Reeves and Natking Cole-fan who would marry the “adopted” son. The shaadi that never happened because the groom changed his mind. The hushed whispers that redefine claustrophobia. The mohalla that we still carry inside us. And on a lighter note, walking past admiring young boys and pretending not to notice and spotting them across the terraces later. There were those too! By the end I wasn’t sure if I was weeping for my Allahabad or Suki’s Meerut or an ancestral home I know to be in ruins across the border of which I have only heard stories of and seen some photos. There’s more than one missing piece in my jigsaw and Parul’s book felt cathartic in a way no other book has.

Do you have a half-written novel on your computer? Wondering how to stick to a writing routine or get published by a traditional publisher? This Sunday, 10 May, bring your questions to my open house. I’ll be in conversation with Parul Sharma, who writes literary fiction about memory, belonging, and the evolving idea of home. We’ll talk about writing, publishing, and the rocky road between the two. The floor will be open for your questions. 📅 Sunday, 10 May 2026 🕖 5–6 PM IST | 7:30–8:30 PM SGT 💻 Online Please register here and I'll send the link to your email on Saturday - /alifeinwords Link in bio. 🩵💙, Shradha #author #authorcommunity #publishing #fictionbooks #literaryfiction [Author, fiction, books, literaryfiction, writing, publishing, novel, memory, belonging, home, writer]

Nineteenth Book of 2026 📚 The story follows 18 year old Sukanya, raised in London. Her parents had eloped, leaving behind an estranged past. Growing up on her father’s stories about Bulandwada, she feels a sense of incompleteness, as if a part of her identity is waiting for her there. When Sukanya finally gets the chance to visit her father’s hometown, she steps into a world she had only imagined: a lively mohalla that embraces her; doting grandparents and relatives; rich, spicy Indian food and the uncomfortable realities of ingrained misogyny and hypocrisy. In the overall chaos of things, Sukanya seamlessly fits in like a missing piece of a puzzle. 🧩 It is a warm narrative that weaves together nostalgia, belonging, grief and the unfairness of life. The author’s almost poetic writing style intensifies every emotion, making the story stay with you long after you finish reading it. 🤍 Also it would be unfair if I did not judge this book by its cover. The cover page of the book is not just vivid and beautiful, but it also conveys the story on its own. Thank you @parul ma’am, for trusting me with a copy of your book! I really enjoyed reading this heartfelt story. 💕 #bookrecommendations #bookstagram #indianauthor #bookreview #collaboration

Comment “Sukanya” for the link to this exclusive Substack excerpt from The Missing Piece!