Fourteen-year-old Lucky Khanum is passionate about three things: football, Star Wars and Portia, the girl who works in his grandfather's corner shop. In that order. While Lucky pursues his girl and his dreams of one day scoring for England, his mother Delphine, the woman who seems to have everything, fantasises about rediscovering the freedom of her youth. But rekindling a relationship with her father-in-law Zaki is only going to end in disaster... And, as they move closer to their dreams, do they risk losing sight of what's really important?
Roopa Farooki was born in Lahore in Pakistan, and brought up in London. She graduated from New College, Oxford in 1995 and worked in advertising before turning to write fiction. Roopa now lives in South West France with her husband and sons. Bitter Sweets, her first novel, was shortlisted for the Orange New Writers Award 2007.