The English translation of her novel "Mai" catapulted her into fame. The novel is about three generations of women and the men around them, in a North Indian middle-class family. "Mai" has been translated into several languages, including Serbian and Korean. It has also been translated into English by Nita Kumar, who was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award for the translation, and into Urdu by Bashir Unwan with preface by Intizar Hussain. Other languages include French by Annie Montaut, and German by Reinhold Schein.