**Longlisted for the ALCS Gold Non-Fiction Dagger** **Longlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 2022** 'Haunting ... lingers in the mind long after the final page is turned' Sunday Times 'A compelling whodunnit ... Devastating' Financial Times 'Transfixing' New York Times 'A powerful, unflinching account of misogyny, female shame and the notion of honour' Observer ___________________ A masterly and agenda-setting inquest into how the deaths of two teenage girls shone a light into the darkest corners of a nation Katra Sadatganj. A tiny village in western Uttar Pradesh. A community bounded by tradition and custom; where young women are watched closely, and know what is expected of them. It was an ordinary night when two girls, Padma and Lalli, went missing. The next day, their bodies were found - hanging in the orchard, their clothes muddied. In the ensuing months, the investigation into their deaths would implode everything that their small community held to be true, and instigated a national conversation about sex, honour and violence. The Good Girls returns to the scene of Padma and Lalli's short lives and shocking deaths, daring to ask: what is the human cost of shame?

Meet Leela: nineteen, charismatic and fearlessly outspoken. With her sharp wit and stubborn optimism, she is the best paid bar dancer on Bombay's notorious Mira Road. Leela has a 'husband' (who is already married), a few lovers whose names she can't remember, an insufferable mother camping out in her flat and an adored best friend, Priya - the most beautiful woman she has ever seen. But when the dance bars are banned, Leela's proud independence faces its greatest test. In a city where everyone is certain that someone, somewhere, is worse off than them, Leela fights to survive - and win.