AUGUST 2019. THE BOOK REVIEW LITERARY TRUST.

There is no getting away from it: the title Twice Upon a Time must be one of the best things that happened to children’s literature in a long time. Together with the inspired illustrations, funny and fecund, the title promises a romp that evoked, in this reviewer, dusty memories of settling down with a book in a quiet corner of the summer vacation, and surrendering to the bliss of being swept away.

JUNE 23, 2019. NEW ASIAN WRITING.

Payal Kapadia’s brilliant tongue in cheek book about finding the elusive perfect maid makes for a hilarious read The book is about a working woman, Anu who tries to find that perfect maid that would look after her household chores. However, the task is not so easy and the ensuing search results in comic situations. The maids in metro cities come with a set of demands of their own.

MAY 19, 2019. MINT LOUNGE.

Payal Kapadia’s delightful reimagining of the princess trope begins on this premise. Twice Upon A Time is part slapstick, part profound, a heady comedy about two girls thrust into roles they are unwilling to fulfil… While all the ingredients of a classic fairy tale (a fire-breathing dragon and a pair of princes who come to the rescue) are recognizably present, they turn into sources of hilarity and twists in the tale.

MAY, 2019. HJ BOOK BLOG

There’s nothing like an award to beat writer’s block. I’d wanted to be a writer since I was ten – and yet, when I sat down, at the age of 30, to write Wisha Wozzariter, I felt uncertain. At one point, I got so stuck that I put the book away, half-done, and returned to it only six years later when Penguin offered to run it even though they’d only seen half of it! Winning the Crossword Award made me realize that I was on to something. That I could write.

JULY 22, 2018. THE INDIAN EXPRESS

If you want your school stories to be a mix of adventure and delight in the good old Blyton tradition, look no further than Payal Kapadia’s Horrid High series… Happy High could really be the shining advertisement for a residential school for well-rounded children, except that it really is Horrid High, a place to dump orphans and gifted, unloved children.

SET 20, 2017. HINDUSTAN TIMES.

This book is a tale of every middle- and upper-middle class woman. Why? Because it tells a universal tale. Isn’t it a truth universally acknowledged that an urban woman with a dream of a peaceful life must be in want of a suitable maid? If you are a career-oriented, ambitious women living in a nuclear family, your freedom to pursue it depends on a maid even more.