Boomerang Books Info Bank

Dorothy Wentworth-Walsh first travelled to India in the 1950s and fell in love with the country, particularly with Bombay. She returned many times over the following 40 years and spent long periods living in the city. Over time, she became more and more involved with the local people and their issues. From the book’s opening essay, telling of the blind eye turned to the antics of a drunken American at the YWCA (contrasted with the harsh treatment that would have been meted out had an Indian girl done the same) the book progresses to far more serious and political stuff. Closing essays deal with the Union Carbide disaster at Bhopal and the problems of nuclear powers and weaponry. As the collection progresses, Wentworth-Walsh’s politics become more obvious and she displays a heavily left-wing point of view that may upset some readers. An annoyance is the lack of indication of where and when the essays first ran. Many read as though they are newspaper articles, but without an attribution I found that element frustrating. A Room in Bombay attracted me because of its focus on Bombay/Mumbai and kept me because of the author’s eye for detail, ability to tell a story and strong opinions.