I’ve been doing a lot travel in the past months, speaking at various literary events and this weekI had the opportunity to go on a virtual book tour with TLC Tours.  Book bloggers have hosted me on their sites, reviewing my book or inviting me to write a guest blog - and all this without ever having to leave my home or pack a suitcase.Here’s what they are saying about Haunting Bombay:   Darlene at Peeking Between the Pages writes, “From the beginning of the book I was hooked and I just kept turning those pages in an attempt to find out what was going to finally happen. It was a book that kept me on the edge of my seat a bit while giving me shivers up and down my spine.”Ramya of Ramya’s Bookshelf writes, “The prologue instantly gripped me - the mysterious air, the freaky characters, a subtle hint of deaths and more, etc and I couldn’t put the book down. From that moment, until I turned the last page - I was hooked to haunting Bombay. It has been a while since I read a book that engrossing.”Wendy at Musings of a Bookish Kitty writes, “Haunting Bombay lives up to its title. It is a haunting tale full of mystery, forbidden love, dark secrets, and mysticism. Shilpa Agarwal’s writing is beautiful, her story intense. I fell in love with this novel on the very first page and that feeling never wavered. If anything, it grew with each turn of the page.”Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit writes, “Agarwal’s poetic language is like a siren song, pulling the reader into the Mittal family’s struggles with one another… Readers looking for a ghost story will get more than they bargained for with Haunting Bombay. It’s a ghost story, mystery, and historical novel carefully crafted to hypnotize the reader.”

This insightful review just out from Seacoastonline, a newspaper serving New Hampshire and Maine, makes the observation that I have set “the arc of this debut novel to the rhythm of India’s climate. The parched heat strains tempers, and the still air lies heavy with secrets. The first monsoon rains bring giddy relief, renewing married love and awakening forbidden young hopes before the relentless wetness seeps into every crack and corner of the place, sprouting mold and hastening decay.” Click here for full review.

Haunting Bombay is officially a BESTSELLER! San Francisco Chronicle listed it as #4 in this week’s bestseller list.

This thoughtful and in-depth review from Mysterious Reviews was just published, describing Haunting Bombay as ”a beautifully crafted mystery of amazing depth, sensitivity, and complexity… as haunting in its style as in its substance.” Reviewer Wayne Cunningham also writes, “Besides developing an outstanding story filled with family tensions and dark drama, Agarwal holds her reader’s interest with passages of history and biting social commentary and references to Indian mythology, deities, and regional superstitions. She can evoke laughter as well as tears, fear as well as serenity, and she is masterful at springing surprises at just the right moment.” Click here for the full review.

USA Today Books Roundup featured HAUNTING BOMBAY, describing itas an “intriguing debut novel” that “draws on the broader mystical culture that envelops India, where there is always a supernatural explanation for everything that happens, especially the horrific. Often, fingers point to the weakest members of the community; Agarwal seeks to give voice to the dispossessed through the supernatural.” Read the review.

Library Journal just gave HAUNTING BOMBAY a starred review, calling it a “good ghost story” that will “definitely appeal to fans of Monica Ali and Jhumpa Lahiri.”

This past weekend, I flew to Washington D.C. to accept a First Words Literary Prize for South Asian Writers, awarded to my yet unpublished novel, HAUNTING BOMBAY.  Award-winning author Vikram Chandra announced the prizes for novel and short-story as part of the 2003 South Asian Literary & Theater Arts Festival.  The weekend-long festival also included talks given by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Kamila Shamsie, Taslima Nasreen, Mira Nair, & Lee Siegel.  We were treated to a reception at the elegant Bombay Club, known to be a favorite restaurant of President Clinton when he was at the White House.  After my reading, I was greeted in the lobby by filmmaker Mira Nair who told me that she thought my novel film-worthy!  It was so wonderful to be surrounded by such a supportive group of artists.  I am deeply honored by this prize and thank the distinguished panel of judges and the organizers of the annual festival.