Shubha Sarma, an IAS officer and alumna of Lady Shri Ram College and Jawaharlal Nehru University, writes English fiction set in the social landscapes of north India. The Awasthis of Aamnagri is her second novella, following a joint family in the fictional town of Aamnagri during the 1970s and 1980s. Her debut, Fly on the Wall and Other Stories (2013), was translated into Hindi and Italian.