This memoir by Zoya Patel offers a very accessible analysis of race and gender relationships in Australia. Because of this, I think it would be a great gift to anyone who’s starting to think about these issues and would enjoy a voice that’s relatable, intelligent, and funny.

Covering in detail what it was like to grow up the daughter of Indian Fijian parents in a predominantly white Australia, Patel brings to light experiences that many white Australians may well be blind to, in a way that’s likely to garner a wide audience. She deftly explores the challenges of being the child of immigrants where the more she establishes herself as an Australian, the more she feels disconnected from her parents and her heritage.

Here’s a snippet; ‘I was never told I could be both a goth and be Indian. Or that I could love Gilmore Girls and watch Bollywood movies… I desperately wanted everyone else to see me as more ‘Australian’ than not, because somewhere along the line the way my mild resentment at the restrictions of my culture had been replaced by a low-level self-hatred… planted by the unwillingness of mainstream Australian society to see cultural diversity as anything other than a burden.’