Product Description

From the award-winning author of Mistress of Spices, the bestselling novel about the extraordinary bond between two women, and the family secrets and romantic jealousies that threaten to tear them apart.

Anju is the daughter of an upper-caste Calcutta family of distinction. Her cousin Sudha is the daughter of the black sheep of that same family. Sudha is startlingly beautiful; Anju is not. Despite those differences, since the day on which the two girls were born, the same day their fathers died--mysteriously and violently--Sudha and Anju have been sisters of the heart. Bonded in ways even their mothers cannot comprehend, the two girls grow into womanhood as if their fates as well as their hearts were merged.

But, when Sudha learns a dark family secret, that connection is shattered. For the first time in their lives, the girls know what it is to feel suspicion and distrust. Urged into arranged marriages, Sudha and Anju's lives take opposite turns. Sudha becomes the dutiful daughter-in-law of a rigid small-town household. Anju goes to America with her new husband and learns to live her own life of secrets. When tragedy strikes each of them, however, they discover that despite distance and marriage, they have only each other to turn to.

Set in the two worlds of San Francisco and India, this exceptionally moving novel tells a story at once familiar and exotic, seducing readers from the first page with the lush prose we have come to expect from Divakaruni. Sister of My Heart is a novel destined to become as widely beloved as it is acclaimed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41240 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01-18
• Released on: 2000-01-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 322 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780385489515
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com 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

From Publishers Weekly
Like the old tales of India that are filled with emotional filigree and flowery prose, Divakaruni's (The Mistress of Spices) latest work is a masterful allegory of unfulfilled desire and sacrificial love. It is also an intricate modern drama in which generations and castes struggle over old and new mores. Anju and Sudha are cousins, born in the same household in Calcutta on the same day?which is also the day on which their mothers learn that both their husbands have been killed in a reckless quest for a cave full of rubies. Sudha grows up believing her father was a no-good schemer who brought ruin on his cousin, Anju's upper-class father. As they mature, Anju dreams of college, Sudha of children, but arranged marriages divide and thwart them. Anju adjusts to life in California with a man who lusts after Sudha; Sudha grapples with a mother-in-law who turns to the goddess Shasti to fill Sudha's barren womb rather than to a doctor for her sterile son. Ultimately, the tie between Anju and Sudha supersedes all other love, as each sustains painful loss to save the other. When Sudha learns the truth about her father and no longer needs to right his wrongs, she sees that all along her affection for Anju has not been dictated by necessity. An inspired and imaginative raconteur, Divakaruni is sure to engender comparisons with Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things), but Divakaruni's novel stands in its own right as a compelling read. If her prose sometimes veers toward the purple, her mesmerizing narrative sustains it well. Agent, Sandra Dijkstra; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Like Rebecca Wells's Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood (LJ 5/1/96), Divakaruni's debut novel, The Mistress of Spices (LJ 2/1/97), was a word-of-mouth hit; its blend of magical realism and culinary sensuality also appealed to fans of Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate (LJ 9/1/92). This second novel is a bit more earth-bound. Born on the same day their fathers die in a mysterious accident, Sudha and Anju are more than just cousins; although Anju is the daughter of an upper-caste Calcutta family and Sudha the daughter of a black-sheep renegade, they are sisters of the heart, bound by a deep love. Narrated by Sudha and Anju in alternate chapters, this is the tale of their relationship over the years, a friendship that is almost destroyed by jealousy and family secrets. Although much of the plot is contrived (the final revelation is no big surprise) and the male characters are stock cliches, this is still an engaging read, filled with tender, moving moments. For popular fiction collections.
-?Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A book to be treasured always.
I am an avid reader and I must say that this book has taken over the number one spot of all times. It is the life story of two young girls born to the same household on the same day. Anju and Sudha are cousins growing up in a house full of women in the city of Calcutta, India. Their personalities, like night and day, bring us a blend of rich and exotic culture wrapped up in the ideas that society imposes upon them. The author entwines this richness with the silent sorrows and heavy heart of the unknown. A secret so dreadful that one of the girls can never shed light upon it without fear of losing everything that she holds dear.

There were several unexpected surprises in this book. The author is a fantastic storyteller and I found such astonishing insight into the human heart I was moved to reread the book just to spend time writing down quotes which I found to be words one could live by. I have yet to meet the person who was disappointed by this book. 3/17/01

Pure Reading Pleasure!
This book is an absolute pleasure to read...the writing is so lyrical you are transported to India, wearing a sari of gossamer cloth, hearing the tinkling of ankle bracelets, feeling the heat, smelling the spices, taking part in the day to day life of the five women who live in the Chatterjee household.

Even tho' the scenario about the ruby mine was rather hokie, I loved the story of the two girls/women, Anju and Sudha and the close, unbreakable bond they share, unbroken by time, distance, and marriage. I especially liked that there were surprises...I was delighted to find them.

Some books are like appetizers, some are like main courses, this one is dessert...savor it with a nice cup of tea and cake. It's scrumptious. Then recommend it to all your friends.

Jesse

What a heartwarming, sweet story
I just finished this book of which one of my book clubs suggested that I read ~~ and it is really one of the best written books I have read in a long while. The author doesn't grab your attention by the horn, but slowly, softly does she tell her story between two cousins and the choices they have made with their lives. And she is excellent weaving two lives separated by different cultures and oceans. You can feel the hot air in India, being surrounded by jasmine and you can see New York through Indian eyes ~~ feeling the sense of freedom of being away from a different lifestyle.

Anju and Sudha are unforgettable characters ~~ each so different in her way and both strong women. They grew up closer than twins for they were always together, and the stories they tell to each other are exiquiste. Then marriage and their choices regarding their marriages only kept them apart for a while ~~ after all, they are sisters of the heart and nothing can really keep them apart. It makes one wish that they had a close relationship like theirs in their lives. They are so fortunate and yet so unfortunate.

I highly recommend this book. It is an easy read and the whispers that Divakaruni tells throughout the book isn't easily forgotten. This is the first book I've read by Divakaruni and she is an author I promise to read again. She makes you feel like you're sitting some place safe while someone you love most in this world is telling you secrets only for your ears. And that is the most delicious feeling ever to have in this lifetime. If an author can create that feeling with a book, then she is superbly talented.