The Mistress of Spices (Macmillan Guided Readers) [Paperback]

'For ARRANGED MARRIAGE, 'As irresistible as the impulse which leads her characters to surface to maturity, raising their heads above the floods of silver ignorance", New York Times Book Review --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

An exotic, magical novel by a young Indian immigrant to the US. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

In Oakland, California, Tilo sells herbs and spices. No mere shopkeeper, she is The Mistress of Spices and, with her knowledge of their secret powers, she helps customers find answers to the questions of love, loss and loneliness. But when Tilo herself falls in love, she has a big choice to make. This is an upper-level story in a series of ELT readers comprising a wide range of titles - some original and some simplified - from modern and classic novels, and designed to appeal to all age groups, tastes and cultures. The books are divided into five levels: Starter Level, with about 300 basic words; Beginner Level (600 basic words); Elementary Level (1100); Intermediate Level (1600); and Upper Level (2200). Some of the titles are also available on cassette.

An exotic, magical novel by a young Indian immigrant to the US. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Tilo, an immigrant from India, runs a spice shop in Oakland, California. While she supplies the ingredients for curries and kormas, she also helps her customers to gain a more precious commodity: whatever they most desire. For Tilo is a Mistress of Spices, a priestess of the secret magical powers of spices.

Through those who visit and revisit her shop, she catches glimpses of the life of the local Indian expatriate community. To each, Tilo dispenses wisdom and the appropriate spice, for the restoration of sight, the cleansing of evil, 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…

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.