She is the daughter of acclaimed Indian novelist Anita Desai, a prominent figure in Indian English literature.
Desai spent her childhood in India before moving to England and then the United States, where she studied creative writing at Columbia University.
Her first novel 'Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard', published in 1998, was well-received and won the Betty Trask Award
Desai’s works frequently explore the complexities of immigrant life, cultural dislocation, and the clash of old and new worlds, drawing from her own experiences of living between cultures.