The story is about a 30+ Indian woman Lakshmi who tries to commit suicide but is saved by her detached husband Adit Patil. Lakshmi is an immigrant to the U.S. from India and feels lonely in her marriage to Adit. Cultural isolation, lack of intimacy and confinement to a store owned by her husband without any money pushes her to attempt suicide. To help Lakshmi find her bearings Maggie, a psychologist, treats her with weekly therapy sessions. The patient-therapist relationship undergoes a major sea change as they end up becoming close friends. The sessions include stories of Lakshmi’s village, family, secrets, disappointments, happy moments, guilt and inner turmoil. Maggie too has personal history and from time to time she confronts it as well as gets swayed. Maggie Bose is married to Sudhir, a Math professor but she is also having an extra-marital affair with Peter who is a visiting professor of photography at the same university where her husband works. Sudhir and Maggie empower and teach Lakshmi how to drive. They provide means so that she could earn her living as well as identity. Sweet harmony of marriage takes an ugly turn when Lakshmi betrays Maggie out of anger.

Thrity Umrigar, an award-winning journalist and a professor of English has spun a beautiful and dazzling tale of friendship, faith, hope, challenges, complexities, forgiveness, secrets, redemption, sibling love, angst, loneliness, humanity and compassion. The characters of her story are not perfect but flawed. It is an honest and moving story of two diverse women who are similar yet dissimilar in so many ways. The novel is funny, compelling as well as an intriguing page turner. There is never a dull moment throughout. The power of storytelling has been showcased emphatically.