"Thrity Umrigar has an uncanny ability to look deeply into the human
heart and find the absolute truth of our lives. The Story Hour is
stunning and beautiful. Lakshmi and Maggie will stay with readers for a
very long time." -- Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Hummingbird's
Daughter
From the critically beloved, bestselling author of The World We
Found and The Space Between Us, whom the New York Times Book Review
calls a "perceptive and . . . piercing writer," comes a profound,
heartbreakingly honest novel about friendship, family, secrets,
forgiveness, and second chances.
An experienced psychologist, Maggie carefully maintains emotional
distance from her patients. But when she meets a young Indian woman who
tried to kill herself, her professional detachment disintegrates. Cut
off from her family in India, Lakshmi is desperately lonely and trapped
in a loveless marriage to a domineering man who limits her world to
their small restaurant and grocery store.
Moved by her plight, Maggie treats Lakshmi in her home office for free,
quickly realizing that the despondent woman doesn't need a shrink; she
needs a friend. Determined to empower Lakshmi as a woman who feels
valued in her own right, Maggie abandons protocol, and soon doctor and
patient have become close friends.
But while their relationship is deeply affectionate, it is also warped
by conflicting expectations. When Maggie and Lakshmi open up and share
long-buried secrets, the revelations will jeopardize their close bond,
shake their faith in each other, and force them to confront painful
choices.
