Sicko Girl - by Meher Manda (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Sixteen short stories set in Mumbai and New York revel in the bad behavior of women who flout home, men, and social mores.

A bad marriage crumbles in an earthquake. A burst pipe binds two mothers. A lonely man gazes at the bride next door, not expecting her to gaze back. Wagging tongues condemn a local girl to infamy.

Sicko Girl portrays the feral femininity of women pervaded by the flimsy controls of husbands, blows from violent mothers, prying glances from neighbors, and their own contrary desires. Meher Manda's debut stories explore what happens when women break containment and find each other at the edge of propriety, embracing perversity across class, diaspora, and culture.

About the Author

Meher Manda is a writer, culture critic, editor, and educator. She is a collaborator on the political graphic novel A Town Like Every Other (Hachette India, 2025). Her work has been published in The Margins, Los Angeles Review, The Guardian, Bustle, Catapult, Epiphany, Kweli, Cosmonauts Avenue, Scroll, Firstpost, and elsewhere. She is also the author of the poetry chapbook Busted Models (No, Dear / Small Anchor, 2019). A Best New Poets and Best of the Net Anthology nominee, she has received fellowships and grants from The Polis Project, DreamYard, Teachers & Writers Collaborative, and J. N. Tata Endowment for Higher Education. Born in Mumbai, she is currently a lecturer at the Rhode Island School of Design. She is based in New York City and Providence.