“Gifted” by Nikita Lalwani

This was the first book chosen by the new fiction reading group that I have helped set up. It is not a book, nor an author who I remembered hearing of, which is surprising as it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize during the time I have been following it.

I enjoyed it a lot. It is well written and quite nicely-paced, being concerned with the childhood of a girl growing up in Cardiff during the 1989 who is exceptionally good at maths. She ends up taking up a place at Oxford aged just 15.

What makes it more interesting though is that her parents are immigrants from India who are struggling in some ways to adjust to the expectations of UK life. They push her too much, really making her ‘gift’ the pretext for denying her the regular, British teenage life she rather yearns to lead. These tensions are all portrayed with sympathy and realism.

I also enjoyed some of the Oxford scenes that took place in places I know like the Queens Street Tea rooms and Freuds wine bar in Walton Street, but gulped a bit at the suggestion that a penal collection would take place in the Examination Schools. Probably not I think.

My other little quibble was the ending. It is entirely satisfactory from a narrative point of view, but is rather rushed. It is as if the author got fed up telling her story and decided one morning to end it and move on to writing something else instead.

In other respects though this is an original and accomplished novel that is an excellent choice for a reading group because it’s subject provides so much scope for discussion.