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A Novel
by Mansi Shah
In Mansi Shah's stunning debut novel, a family tragedy beckons a first-generation immigrant to the city of her birth, where she grapples with her family's past in search of where she truly belongs.
After her parents moved her and her brother to America, Preeti Desai never meant to tear her family apart. All she did was fall in love with a white Christian carnivore instead of a conventional Indian boy. Years later, with her parents not speaking to her and her controversial relationship in tatters, all Preeti has left is her career at a prestigious Los Angeles law firm.
But when Preeti receives word of a terrible accident in the city where she was born, she returns to India, where she'll have to face her estranged parents…and the complicated past they left behind. Surrounded by the sights and sounds of her heritage, Preeti catches a startling glimpse of her family's battles with class, tradition, and sacrifice. Torn between two beautifully flawed cultures, Preeti must now untangle what home truly means to her.
"A poignant debut novel, reminiscent of Jhumpa Lahiri, that touches on the immigrant experience in America, being caught between two cultures, and finding one's place in the world." ―Booklist
"A refreshingly honest novel that deftly captures the demands and delights of living in between East and West and the status of never quite belonging in either sphere. The need to assimilate in order to survive immigration to America, the bonds and boundaries of race and caste, and the power of privilege and pain of poverty are all explored with large-hearted insight in Mansi Shah's debut." ―Marjan Kamali, bestselling author of The Stationery Shop
"A powerful, thoughtful, and also very accessible book that explores culture and class in both India and America, through the eyes of a winning narrator on a quest to understand both places and where she fits in each. Written with a great sense of curiosity and open-heartedness, it is never judgmental, always thoughtful, and while it gave me a lot to ponder, it also swept me away on an adventure and gave me relief from my everyday life. A beautiful book that deserves a big audience. Well done!" ―Barbara O'Neal, bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids
This information about The Taste of Ginger was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Mansi Shah is a writer who lives in Los Angeles. She was born in Toronto, Canada, was raised in the midwestern United States, and studied at universities in Australia and England. When she's not writing, she's traveling and exploring different cultures near and far, experimenting on a new culinary creation, or trying to improve her tennis game. For more information, visit her online at mansikshah.com.
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