The Mistress Of Spices: Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize
Tilo tends to a curious spice merchant's shop in Oakland, far from her Indian roots. Her stock isn't merely cumin and cardamom, though. Each bottle holds something older, stranger: coriander mends broken vision, chilli banishes malevolence, fenugreek soothes the ache of heartbreak. She's a Mistress of Spices, bound by ancient laws to guide her customers toward healing through these aromatic remedies. Then an American man walks through her door, and everything fractures. For the first time, Tilo's gift falters. The stranger stirs something within her that shouldn't exist, not for someone sworn to her sacred calling. Surrendering to this feeling would cost her everything: her powers, her purpose, her very identity. Disvakaruni crafts a strange, intoxicating narrative that weaves together sensory richness with emotional depth. The prose breathes poetry. There's humour lurking beneath the surface, alongside a genuine tension between two worlds colliding. At its heart lies a question that matters far beyond the shop's fragrant walls: what do we sacrifice for love, and what do we lose when we don't?
- Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Publisher: Black Swan
- Genre: Indian Writing
- ISBN: 978-0552996709
- Pages: 336 pages