Anita and Me
, which has been compared to
To Kill a Mockingbird
, tells the story of Meena, the daughter of the only Punjabi family in the British village of Tollington. With great warmth and humor, Meera Syal brings to life a quirky, spirited 1960s mining town and creates in her protagonist what the
Washington Post
calls a "female Huck Finn." The novel follows nine-year-old Meena through a year spiced with pilfered sweets and money, bad words, and compulsive, yet inventive, lies.
offers a fresh, sassy look at a childhood caught between two cultures.