A fantastically warm and funny first novel that has the humour of Sophie Kinsella and the heart of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.
When Opal Mehta was six years old her parents moved from India to New Jersey so that they could get their child a place at the finest learning institution in the world: Harvard University. To achieve this goal, the Mehtas carefully and thoroughly constructed HOWGIH (How Opal Will Get Into Harvard). Opal's life so far has strictly adhered to this plan - cello lessons at age 6, foreign languages at 7, mechanical engineering classes, horticulture and mosaic art classes after that. Now, armed with a sterling set of academic and extra-curricular credentials, Opal has applied to Harvard. Failure is not an option. But the first question the admissions officer asks her