When a well known artist dies under the care of nurse Sona, Sona completes a quest to deliver paintings to former friends of the artist. Sona travels from her sheltered life in Bombay to Istanbul, Prague, Florence and Paris, discovering more about her artist friend and herself as well As in her previous books, Alka Joshi brings the sights, sounds and smells to life with her descriptive writing.

After a renowned painter dies mysteriously, leaving behind four paintings and cryptic clues, her nurse Sona must journey across Europe to clear her name and uncover the truth about the artist’s hidden life.

This is a beautifully written novel with rich settings and compelling characters. It’s woven through with Sona’s experiences as a biracial/bicultural woman in an environment where she experiences both privilege and discrimination. I enjoyed the historical details that anchored the story in the world of 1937.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

“But if we don’t try to help, what good is our privilege?”

🪷 Genre: Histirical Fiction
🪷 Steamy rating: Warm mild
🪷 Profanity: Low

Six Days in Bombay is yet another captivating story by Alka Joshi. I loved immersing myself in 1930s India, just before World War II, and experiencing the rich historical setting through her storytelling.

Sona, a nurse of mixed English and Indian heritage, has lived a sheltered life in Bombay. Her world begins to expand when she meets Mira, a famous painter who becomes her patient. Their quick friendship introduces Sona to a life beyond her job and the small apartment she shares with her mother.

While I appreciated the depth of Sona and Mira’s friendship, I wasn’t entirely convinced by Mira’s character. Certain traits of hers frustrated me, making it hard to believe Sona would be so drawn to her.

Overall, I found this story to be both beautiful and painstakingly slow. While I enjoyed it, it took me much longer to finish than I expected.

Triggers: Racism, domestic violence, drug overdose, infidelity, death of a friend, death of a parent, and abandonment

Thank you @harlequinbooks for the gifted advanced copy of this beautiful story.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and the author for the eARC.

Alka Joshi delivers again! Her "Jaipur Trilogy" was beautifully written, and this book follows the same vein with a delightful cast of characters and a riveting storyline.

The first half of the story follows our nurse Sona in Bombay, while the second half sees her off to three cities in Europe. Joshi does justice wonderfully to these three beautiful cities through her thoughtful details and descriptions of each. The characters leave you wanting to know more of their lives.

Overall, a really lovely story with mystery, romance, a little bit of sadness, and a whole lot of hope. Sona's character development and Joshi's descriptive writing make for another beautiful story.
Can't wait to see what else she has in store for readers!

I've loved Joshi since The Henna Artist! Six Days in Bombay is in essence two stories: one at home and one abroad. The main character, a nurse, feels compelled to carry out a mission entrusted to her by an unforgettable patient. Every aspect of the story feels full: the characters, the conflict, the description of the places, and the relationships. This may be my favorite of hers yet. Thanks to MIRA/Harlequin Trade Publishing & NetGalley for the ARC!

Six Days in Bombay takes you on a journey through pre-WW2 India and on to Prague, Florence, Paris, and London. The main character Sona deals with racism and sexism while working as a nurse in Bombay. She experiences 6 days of caring for a patient in the hospital that will go on to change the trajectory of her life. Sona goes on a journey of self-discovery that addresses finding love and accepting one's heritage while fulfilling the request of her patient. A beautiful coming of age story that transports you around the globe and highlights some real and difficult struggles.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Another stunner from Alka Joshi! She's one of my favorite writers. So descriptive and such great characters. I enjoyed the new characters after three books in the henna artist series.

I’m so grateful to NetGalley for the ARC or Alka Joshi’s new novel, Six Days in Bombay. Sona is a young and innocent nurse who is befriended by Mira, a colorful patient who suffered a miscarriage. Mira’s unexpected and suspicious death closes one door for Sona but opens so many more.

During their brief but meaningful friendship, Mira had encouraged Sona to explore the world. After her death, Sona discovers that she has been tasked with delivering some of Mira’s paintings to people who had impacted her life. As Sona’s travels take her from country to country, she discovers secrets from Mira’s past that both shock and inspire her.

Experiencing Sona’s journey is an unforgettable treasure, and Alka Joshi has shown time and again that she is one of the most powerful writers of our time.

Set in India pre-WWII and pre-independence, this story of a young woman making her way as a nurse and an Anglo-Indian provides a window into a world that many of us might not read about before. The racism Sona experiences (not to mention the sexism) may surprise some readers, and it's particularly well presented. So is the medical side, with not only the primitive methods but the racism from the British doctors towards the Indian doctors (even if they're UK educated).

Where the story loses focus (for me) is when Sona starts her journey to fulfill Mira's wishes of leaving paintings to people she knew, loved and disappointed in Europe. There's a ton of filler with Sona spending time on trains and exploring cities, and far too much info dumping in the Paris section about the artistic scene. Tighter in those sections and more about Sona and her self-discovery would have made for a better book.

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.

This is a slow paced coming of age novel. I was transported by the beautiful details and numerous settings. The main character Sona was at times frustrating in her thoughts and choices. Then I would remind myself of her circumstances and the world she lived in. Learning about pre WWII India was enlightening.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Net Galley and Harper Collins Publishing for an early copy of Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi


Young nurse Sona experiences six days caring for a patient in a Bombay (Mumbai) hospital that will change her life, putting her on a trek through Europe in order to fulfill the patient's wishes. The year is 1937 and world events are leading to fear and unrest. Yet, Sona fights her own fears and insecurities and takes on the life-changing journey.

Six Days in Bombay features strong characters in India and Europe. While artist/patient Mira Novak is based loosely on real-life female artist Amrita Sher-Gil, author Alka Joshi has created a complex and emotional situation through Novak's influence on Sona. Because Sona is nothing like the artist in personality or temperament, Sona must look outside herself in order to experience the growth that Novak envisions for her.

Finding love, dealing with cultural differences and accepting her heritage are all part of Sona's journey that will take readers to the forefront of Europe in crisis.

One negative aspect of Six Days in Bombay is Novak's pregnancies that in both instances were only for financial gain. This is a sad commentary on the parent/child bond and casts the artist in an unfavorable light.

One of my favorite books of 2025 so far! 4.5/5 Stars!
There’s so much to love about Alka Joshi's Six Days in Bombay.
The novel immerses you in two distinct worlds: one in Bombay, where we meet Sona, a young woman born to a British father and an Indian mother during British rule in the 1930s. Sona works as a night nurse and crosses paths with Mira Novak, an artist who arrives at the hospital after a miscarriage. As the story unfolds, we learn that although Sona shares a joyful life with her mother, she's still struggling to make ends meet. The magnetic Mira and Sona quickly form a bond.
The second part of the story takes Sona on a journey across Europe, including Paris, Florence, Prague, and Istanbul. I’ll refrain from giving away the reasons for her travels because the story is rich in depth and full of surprises. Alka Joshi's writing is so vivid that I truly felt transported to these places. Her descriptions are lush, capturing each setting with such detail that you can almost feel the world around Sona. At just 23, Sona has so much to discover and navigate, and the story keeps you hooked from beginning to end.
The book is about the struggle of identity – Sona, caught between her British and Indian heritage, grapples with confusion over who she truly is. As she meets new people along the way, some struggle to pinpoint her nationality, and Sona wrestles with her sense of belonging. Yet, her heart remains firmly in Bombay. Along the way, she encounters memorable characters, each of whom teaches Sona something, while she too imparts lessons of her own.
I learned a great deal about Bombay during this period, and the book beautifully transported me to the streets of Florence and Paris in the 1930s. Set just before WWII, the looming threat of Hitler is palpable throughout the story.
I didn’t want it to end. The details are so vivid, the characters unforgettable, and I found myself rooting for Sona every step of the way.
Overall, I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait for more people to experience it!

A wonderful coming-of-age historical fiction novel! I loved spending time with these lovable, well drawn characters. I felt like I wanted to take the main character under my wing as she navigated her early twenties.

Sona encounters a painter while working as a nurse in a hospital in Bombay. She is enraptured by Mira and her carefree lifestyle. When Mira suddenly dies, Sona finds a note instructing her to deliver three paintings to three people from Mira's past. She travels to Prague, Paris, and Florence following Mira's wishes and discovering a lot about herself along the way.

Thoughts 💭
I was completely engrossed in Sona's journey of self-discovery. The lessons she learns, the people she meets, and the places she travels all come together in a beautifully told story. The author visited all these places to make things feel more authentic, and it really came through! The characters themselves are complex with interesting backstories. Mira was inspired by Amrita Sher-Gil, who was a talented painter who also died young. "People aren't always what they seem," was a reoccurring theme that was well done. This time period immerses you in the struggles of Anglo-Indians at a time when tensions between Britain and India were high. We also get a glimpse of the beginnings of WWII through Sona's travels. I think this resonated with me so strongly because Sona could be any of us, going through the motions of everyday life and struggling to fit in (albeit differently than Sona). Sometimes, we just need a little push to challenge ourselves. I'm predicting now that this will be one of the top historical fiction reads of the year!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

My appreciation goes to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review. I am a huge fan of Ms. Joshi’s The Henna Artist and The Perfumist of Paris and was really excited to read this one. (Although I didn’t think the middle of that trilogy, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur, was as good, I chalked it up to my feeling that the author excels in writing women more than men. This book centering around female characters gave me hope for another wonderful read.)

I am thus sad to say that I found this book quite lacking. It didn’t have the artistry, magical-ness, rich sensory descriptions, flow, depth and grace of the other two books. Although all three books center female characters who develop strength through circumstance, in this one it almost seems by accident, and I didn’t get much at all of a feeling for Sona. Although she is portrayed as growing and evolving by her travel, by taking sexual initiative, by speaking up and taking chances, I felt her as passive, nonetheless. The experiences were about going along with the circumstances, sometimes being forced into these situations, rather than her being clever or full of grace and initiative as the other Joshi heroines.

Taking I this book on its own however—with no comparison to earlier books is the fairer way to go. So here I shall:

The plot, centered around a nurse in 1930’s Bombay (Sona) who is not worldly, not well-to-do, and not good at asserting herself, meets up with a wealthy artist female patient whose energetic, out of the box presence changes her life. The patient is modeled after real-life Amrita Sher-Gil: an artist of whom Ms. Joshi in her afterward says is the inspiration for this novel.

There are worthy elements emphasized, such as the fact that Sona is a “half-half”—parentage half British & half Indian, a real difficulty in those years of India’s burgeoning independence movement. The prejudices against her are woven into the story and illuminating. Additionally, how the British controlled India was subtly yet convincingly threaded in. There are also several nods to the rise of Hitler and Mussolini in those times. All of this, along scenes from Sona’s eventual travels out of India to places in Europe, makes this a historical fiction which is well-researched.

There is also in the first part a clear & very upsetting picture of domestic abuse and the ways in which interceding on behalf of the abused is cause for more abuse in that place and time. A very difficult, to say the least, situation; for many such women did (& still do) not want to leave their children behind—and in that patriarchal system, the man would get the kids. (Probably much of this is still true today in many places,; possibly even there).

The attempt to address and weave in these various issues is worthy. Classism, racism, life on the cusp of WW2 in India and Europe, identity and belonging all are fitted into this story. The problems with the book however, lie in many aspects of the plot, as well as quite often a choppiness or abruptness in the scene changes and dialogue. The closeness developed in the six days between patient and nurse, the trio of three tragedies befalling Sona all at once, the unlikelihood of Sona being left with the paintings to distribute and the unlikeliness of her finding the 3 recipients…all this stretched my believability beyond anything that made for good fiction. Additionally, I found her journeys often abrupt and even confusing at times.

In terms of enjoyable aspects, there was a theme of forgiveness (or whether not to) & it was an interesting side, shoring up a warm relationship between Sona and an elderly doctor (Stoddard). I admit I did enjoy the unusually nurturing nature of both of the Stoddard men, and their care for Sona (though, again, somehow timing and money comes more than once, just in the very nick of time for her, via the doctor).

I did also enjoy the new family ending and it felt fluid enough.

Overall I did not, though, enjoy the reading of this book as I found it choppy, unrealistic, and unsatisfying. I am truly sad to say this, as a big fan of the author.

Thank you again to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley.

Expected Publication: April 15, 2025

I enjoyed the books in The Jaipur Trilogy and was excited to see Alka Joshi had a new book coming out, but I have to say I'm more than a little disappointed in the story. I didn't connect with the main character, Sona Falstaff or any other character in the book. Sona is a nurse in Bombay, the year is 1937 and India is under British rule but the country is beginning to experience political upheavals. Sona is caught in the middle because she's considered half/half. Her mother is Indian and her father is British, but her father abandoned her mother years ago and has returned to England. Sona doesn't feel as if she fits in anywhere and struggles with her identity. The only thing she is certain of is that she's a good nurse and in her care is a young woman named Mira who has been admitted to the hospital after suffering a miscarriage.

Without revealing too much of the plot, Sona develops what in my opinion is a rather unrealistic instant connection with Mira and this made the rest of the story implausible. I enjoyed the journey and the description of the places Sona visited, but that was the extent of my enjoyment.
The story wraps up in 1959 and I was a little less than enamoured with some of the choices Sona made.

Thank you to NetGalley & Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.
#SixDaysinBombay #NetGalley

I was so excited to receive this book from NetGalley as I have read all of Alka Joshi's books and fell in love with her style of writing. She is so descriptive that you can imagine being right there with her characters. Like the Henna Artist trilogy, this book takes place in India and features Sona, who is a young biracial nurse who has led a fairly sheltered life with her single mother. When Sona befriends a female painter who is her patient, she has no idea how much of an impact this budding relationship will have on her life. Another incredible story where we see Sona develop into a strong young woman as she learns more about her friend and herself as she journeys across Europe.

I really enjoyed Alka Joshi‘s previous trilogy that she wrote even though there were times where I could not stand some of the characters, that to me, is the mark of a good writer, when they are capable of writing complex live characters that are not necessarily likable, but it is not overwhelming, and you ruined the rest of the story. I remember Adele reading a review from a native Indian woman Who claimed that the bank was very unrealistic, and that nothing about the way that the relationships work in the trilogy was true to life in India. That made me uneasy, and I couldn’t really put that aside while I was reading this book because part of why I read historical fiction is because I like to learn about different time periods and different places and if I. get the sense that what I am reading is not an accurate representation of a time or a place it feels like something major is missing for me. I would not read historical texting if I did not want a certain level of reality within my book, I would just read fiction if that were the case.

One thing I did very much enjoy a glass, the way this author continuously tackles the matter of women being second class citizens, this is a topic that I very much enjoy reading about and from the perspective I have, and that was no different in this case. We do get to see a lot of what life must’ve been like for women at that time. This was sent during the British ruling of India during the 1930s, and I found this to be a very romantic setting.

This was also based on the life of a real life author, which I was excited about initially, until I discovered that the rest of the story has really nothing to do with her actual life Which I always find annoying if something is to be a reimagining I would like that to be clear, that being said, the dog was still very readable, and already left about average for sure it kept me turning the pages despite all of the complaints I have that room giving Andy three stars. Those three stars are A reflection of my enjoyment, rather than the technical prowess of the author. As a storyteller Alka Joshi is great, but she surely has room to grow but so far everything I have right by her house been enjoyable, so I will no doubt continue to pick up her books.

This is my first book by this author although all of her other books are currently on my tbr. Sona, a nurse, meets Mira, a patient, who changes her life. This book follows the six days Mira is her patients that alter her outlook on life forever, The storytelling was beautiful and I loved the characters and the impact they had on one another.

Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi took me less then six days to read. I have read and loved all Alka Joshi's books. I absolutely loved reading this book, I learned so much about India and Europe from years ago. I loved the main character Sona and the brave, caring person she was who took care of others first. She bravely travelled through Europe, learning so much about herself and the world. I highly recommend reading this book as you will learn so much about Indian and European culture. There was some sadness and difficult topics in this book at the beginning but Sona overcame so much sadness. Thank you to #netgalley for this arc!!