Radhika Jha studied anthropology at Amherst College and has a master's in political science from the University of Chicago. She has worked for the Hindustan Times and Business World and has also worked for the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, where she started up the Interact project for the education of children of victims of terrorism in different parts of India. Her debut novel Smell won the French Prix Guerlain and has been translated into sixteen languages. This was followed by a collection of short stories, The Elephant and the Maruti.