Sister Of My Heart - Softcover

Divakaruni, Chitra

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552777129 ISBN 13: 9780552777124

Publisher: Black Swan, 2010

Synopsis

Born in a big old Calcutta house on the same night, the wild, tragic night both their fathers were mysteriously lost, Sudha and Anju are cousins. Closer even than sisters, they share clothes, possessions, worries, dreams - and three mothers, who preside over the matriarchal Chatterjee household where the cousins grow up, cocooned in a timeless world of feminine lore. But when Sudha learns a terrible secret about the past, and hides it from her cousin, and then when Anju discovers the sister of her heart is secretly nurturing a forbidden love, their mutual loyalty is sorely tested.

As the day of leaving school draws near, a family crisis forces the cousins to abandon their university plans, and their mothers swiftly start the serious business of arranging their marriages to the sons of suitable families. And thus the inseparable pair is torn apart: Sudha moves to her new family's home in rural Bengal, while Anju joins her immigrant husband in California. But although they have both been trained to be perfect wives, nothing has prepared them for the great challenges, for the pain as well as the joy, that each will have to face in her new life.

Compelling and passionate, rooted in Indian folklore and steeped in the mysticism of ancient tales, this bright, jewel-like novel shines its light on the bonds of family, on love and loss, against a backdrop of the realities of traditional arranged marriages, and the adjustments needed for modern-day life in the West.

About this title

Review:

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni made an indelible impression on the literary world with her first novel, The Mistress of Spices, a magical tale of love and herbs. Sister of My Heart is less reliant on enchantment but no less enchanting as it tells the tale of two cousins born on the same day, their premature births brought on by a mysterious occurrence that claims the lives of both their fathers. Sudha is beautiful, Anju is not; yet the girls love each other as sisters, the bond between them so strong it seems nothing can break it. When both are pushed into arranged marriages, however, each discovers a devastating secret that changes their relationship forever.

Sister of My Heart spans many years and zigzags between India and America as the cousins first grow apart and then eventually reunite. Divakaruni invests this domestic drama with poetry as she traces her heroines' lives from infancy to motherhood, but it is Sudha and Anju who give the story its backbone. Anju might speak for both when she says: "In spite of all my insecurities, in spite of the oceans that'll be between us soon and the men that are between us already, I can never stop loving Sudha. It's my habit, and it's my fate." Book- lovers may well discover that reading Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is habit-forming as well. --Margaret Prior

Review:

"The power of stories and the strength of women who tell them are lovingly rendered in--a tale as rich and bountiful as the scents and sounds of Calcutta."--San Francisco Chronicle
"Her literary voice is a sensual bridge between worlds.India and America.Children and parents.Men and women.Passion and pragmatism."--USA Today
"Irresistible--With this enchanting novel, Divakaruni shows herself to be a skilled cartographer of the heart."--People
"Evokes all the trials and splendor of a fairy tale--. Her intricate tapestry of old and new worlds shines with rare luminosity as Divakaruni celebrates the beauty and sustenance to be found in bonds wrought between women."--The San Diego Union-Tribune
"Beautifully blends the chills of reality with the rich imaginings of a fairy tale."--The Wall Street Journal"

About this edition

• Publisher: Black Swan
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0552777129
• ISBN 13: 9780552777124
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352