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SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

'A dazzling tale... woven with poetry and storyteller magic.' AMY TAN

Tilo, an immigrant from India, runs a spice shop in Oakland, California. While she supplies the ingredients for curries and kormas, she also dispenses wisdom and the appropriate spice: for Tilo is a Mistress of Spices, a priestess of the secret magical powers of spices.

To those who visit her shop, Tilo prescribes coriander for the restoration of sight, chilli for the cleansing of evil, fenugreek for the pain of rejection. But when a lonely American ventures into the store, a troubled Tilo cannot find the correct spice, for he arouses in her a forbidden desire - which if she follows will destroy her magical powers.

Compelling and lyrical, full of heady scents and with more than a touch of humour, this novel explores the clash between East and West even as it unveils the universal mysteries of the human heart.

'I felt excited and empowered by the way she used words' NAOMI ALDERMAN, author of THE POWER

'Unusual, clever, and often exquisite' LA Times
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An exotic, magical novel by a young Indian immigrant to the US.

About the Author
Born in India, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni lives near San Francisco with her husband and two children. She teaches creative writing at a local college, and is the coordinator for a helpline for South Asian women. She is the author of several award-winning volumes of poetry, as well as Arranged Marriage, her acclaimed collection of short stories, a bestseller in America and winner of the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Prize for fiction, an American Book Award, and the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award for fiction. She is also the author of two novels, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart.

Reviews
A dazzling tale of misbegotten dreams and desires, hopes and expectations, woven with poetry and storyteller magic. -- Amy Tan
I read Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's novel The Mistress of Spices and felt excited and empowered by the way she used words * Guardian *
An unusual, clever, and often exquisite first novel...The result is rather as if Isabel Allende met Laura Esquivel. * Los Angeles Times *
A splendid novel, beautifully conceived and crafted. -- Pat Conroy
Mythical and mystical, Mistress of Spices is reminiscent of fables and fairy tales. . . . The story Divakaruni tells is transporting, but it is her gift for metaphor that makes this novel live and breathe, its pages as redolent as any freshly ground spice. * Booklist *



Book Information
ISBN 9780552996709
Author Chitra Divakaruni
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Black Swan
Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd
Weight(grams) 230g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 127mm * 20mm