This book started out with such a bang. The beginning and probably first 20% was so compelling and had me on the edge of my seat. Once we got over the initial incident from the beginning of Missy's life, and when we did the jump forward in time - the story lost some momentum for me. I wish the pace we had in the beginning stayed throughout the story, and I would have preferred just to hear from Missy's POV, instead of hearing from the other POV we ended up getting. Additionally, the ending felt a little anticlimactic. Overall I did enjoy the actual story, but think it had the potential to be more impactful if it was told in a different way.

A beautifully written and developed book about regret and choosing a different life. I really enjoyed reading about Missy and her life. There were a few moments in the middle of the book where I found myself losing interest, but for the most part I was desperate to know what was going to happen to Missy and her daughters. This book is full of strong willed women who lead the plot with their actions and decisions. In particular, I found the ending bittersweet and well written. Overall, a moving story with a strong central character.

Excellent read, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this title in exchange for my feedback.

Savi’s beginnings were inauspicious. Her upturn started in the house of the nuns, where she was schooled and learned that keeping her head down was the way to get ahead. Seconded for service to a rich household, put in charge of the youngest son in the house her life seemed ordained for service.

When an attraction to a budding artist got in the way, along with an attempted rape, and deaths, the couple fled first to the coast, then on a steamer to Yemen where Missy and Ananda now with new identities, skipped to America. Fast forward many years, two brilliant children, a flourishing business, Missy has never got over the fact that she is an illegal immigrant in America.

When Arun comes into Shilpa’s life, Missy feels that her world is tilting. Only when Shilpa goes to India to meet the family, does the karmic forces come full circle to reveal that this is the family where Missy and now her ex husband caused mayhem and unimaginable grief when they lost their eldest son in that initial brutal assault. The explanations decades later being accepted by the family of the actual stories of the deaths was the beginning of peace for Missy.

Very descriptive of the domestic situation in the house in South India as well as the situation in America, it gave a glimpse of how hard it is for some to adapt to a different way of life, and also how easy it is for second generation immigrant children to live in the manner born in the new country. The feudal system of servitude which prevailed in rich houses in Asia may exist still on a reduced level though dictatorial attitudes may be absent today.
Engrossing read.

This book is great for people who love following generations of a family. It felt easy to read, albeit a bit predictable at times, but I did enjoy it.

Missy’s life is divided into two unequal pieces. There is her youth in India and there is her much longer adulthood in the United States. The boundary between the two is a horrific crime and misunderstanding that sends Missy across the ocean. Raghav Rao’s entertaining and heartfelt novel, Missy, shows us both pieces of her life—the long shadow of past secrets and Missy’s determination to reinvent herself. Rao’s characters are lively, often funny, and incredibly headstrong.

Once upon a time in Tamil Nadu, a young girl named Savi fled from a famine with her mother. Only Savi survived the long march. Nuns took her in, taught her English, and attempted to get her to convert to Catholicism. When she reaches her teens, the nuns find a position for her as a governess and maid in the home of a wealthy guru. Compared to what Savi has known, this is a huge step up in the world. Unfortunately, it brings her into contact with the utterly repellant man who acts as the Nandiyar family’s chauffeur.

After Rao reveals the crime that turned Savi into a refugee, the novel jumps ahead several decades and to another continent. Savi is now Missy Royce, the founder and owner of the Dancing Shiva Driving School. She lives with her two daughters in a cozy home in Chicago. All would be right with her world if it wasn’t for two things: she is an undocumented immigrant and she doesn’t want to risk anyone finding out what happened to her in India. When a young Indian doctor turns up at Dancing Shiva, Missy’s formidable barrier between past and present starts to crumble. It’s finally time for Missy to open up about what she’s been hiding all these years.

I realize that the above summary makes Missy sound like a heavy book. There are heavy moments, but I was charmed by the lightness of this book. Missy and her daughters, Shilpa and Mansi, are delightful characters. As much as they bicker and push each other’s buttons, their love for each other is evident in the way Missy cooks for her daughters, Mansi’s pushes to be better people, and Shilpa’s efforts to keep things legal. The scenes showing Missy and her family’s home life feel like being wrapped up in a warm blanket and served something hot and delicious.

The conclusion of the book—which brings closure to many plot threads while also leaving a few others open—felt not so much like a climax as it did like bidding farewell to characters whose lives are going to carry on past the last page. Some readers may not like the ambiguity but I was very satisfied by the ending of Missy. Even though I don’t know what will happen to some of the characters, I like the idea that they’re out there in Chicago and Tamil Nadu, meddling in each other’s lives and welcoming new family and friends into the fold.

‘Missy’ starts in Madras, India, where we see Savi end up at St Ursula’s convent as an orphan. The orphans, unfortunately, have only a destiny of becoming servants or being thrown to the streets once they hit a certain age – however, Savi always dreams of exploring the worlds outside and escaping. Luckily, Savi is well-behaved, almost fluent in two languages, and taken in by the wealthy Nandiyar family.
I found the novel started quite well and kept my engagement, although, it suddenly felt like the story wandered off in a different direction and I completely lost interest because of how long the detour felt. I persevered and got to the part that made the story interesting. What started as a somewhat romantic interaction between Savi and Ananda, turned into a horrific memory that forced these two young lovers to marry and become immigrants in America, with new identities and hiding the scars of their past.
Yet, the past doesn’t stay in the past for too long. Savi, now known as Missy has created her own version of the American dream; with being a mother to Mansi and Shilpa, as well as owning her own business and expanding it. For me, this is again where the story seems to veer off course just to give us explanation for what happens near the end. Parts of this book just seemed to be extended when they did not need to be, only to give the reader context rather than to actually make the story better.
When Varun - a doctor who is secretly dating one of Missy’s daughters – arrives on the scene, he seems to unintentionally at the beginning set off a chain of events that puts Missy in a fight or flight situation. This part of the story really made me want to not finish the book, because now as well as getting the past from Savi and the present from Missy, we get chapters that only focus on Varun and his part in all of this which is not only confusing but also again seems a strange way to add information to a book, than can just be told to the readers more simply while keeping Missy the main character. Adding another ‘main’ character by focusing on Varun in certain chapters makes the reader question which character are we going to end the book with. Will we see a happy ending for Missy or are we just going to live our days with her in the background now while Varun runs the show?
I related this book a lot to other historical fiction works that I have read, that have similar stories such as ‘Can’t I Go Instead’ by Lee Geum-yi and Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah. They all have similar story lines and these other two books I rated quite highly and because I was relating this book to them, this book does not quite hit the mark or the quality of the books in terms of storytelling.
I found the ending of this book to be quite predictable also, but I think again, is because I have read similar books that all follow the same basic storyline before they add their style etc.
Overall, I would like to read another book from this author as I think they have the potential for historical fiction writing; however, this book just did not live up to the standards that other books have set for me, which is why I only gave it 2 stars.

This novel packs a steady pace of action that I didn't expect when I first started it. Orphaned Savi grows up in a convent and once she ages out, she lands a job as a servant in the fine estate of the Nandiyar family. Her role is essentially that of a nanny to the younger son, but she also develops a relationship with the glamorous woman of the house. Unfortunately, it only takes one night to completely demolish Savi's vision for the future. Fast-forward decades and we meet Missy, the hard-working owner of a driving school in Chicago. She has two daughters, and one of them unknowingly opens up a path between Missy's past and present. The coincidence is too large not to notice, but once I let myself go with it, I could continue enjoying the story. Overall, a good read but I wish the end had been fleshed out a bit more. I also liked reading about the relationship between Missy and her daughters, and would have been glad to get more of that.

Spanning decades, Missy follows Indian woman Savitri who is taken into the service of an ultra-wealthy family. However, events one night force her to flee and years later becomes Missy Royce, a mother and successful business owner in Chicago.

Miss Missy is a terrifically entertaining book.
A servant girl in a wealthy Indian household falls in love, and fights off an evil man. The pampered scion of the family is accidentally killed. To avoid being blamed, the girl and her lover flee the scene, and eventually end up in America to make a new life.
Many years later, Missy has clawed together a life for her and her daughters. The past arrives to catch up with her.
What makes me feel uncomfortable reading books set in India is the obvious racism inherent in the caste structure, and the fact that everyone seems to have servants and be incredibly spoiled.

An enjoyable read! I particularly liked the strong female characters and family relationships. The plot was a little predictable, but otherwise it was well written and engaging. Worth reading if you like family dramas spanning across different generations and countries.