The Sari Shop Widow [Paperback]

Shobhan Bantwal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 2009

Pungent curry. . .sweet fried onions. . .incense. . .colorful beads. . .lush fabrics. Shobhan Bantwal's compelling new novel is set on the streets of Edison, New Jersey's Little India, where a young businesswoman rediscovers the magic of love and family. . .

Since becoming a widow at age twenty-seven, Anjali Kapadia has devoted herself to transforming her parents' sari shop into a chic boutique, brimming with exquisite jewelry and clothing. Now, ten years later, it stands out like a proud maharani amid Edison's bustling Little India. But when Anjali learns the shop is on the brink of bankruptcy, she feels her world unraveling. . .

To the rescue comes Anjali's wealthy, dictatorial Uncle Jeevan and his business partner, Rishi Shah--a mysterious Londoner, complete with British accent, cool gray eyes, and skin so fair it makes it hard to believe he's Indian. Rishi's cool, foreign demeanor triggers distrust in Anjali and her mother. But for Anjali, he also stirs something else, a powerful attraction she hasn't felt in a decade. And the feeling is mutual. . .

Love disappointed Anjali once before and she's vowed to live without it--though Rishi is slowly melting her resolve and, as the shop regains its footing, gaining her trust. But when a secret from Rishi's past is revealed, Anjali must turn to her family and her strong cultural upbringing to guide her in finding the truth. . .

Praise for Shobhan Bantwal and her novels...

"Compelling and memorable." --Mary Jo Putney on The Forbidden Daughter

"Vivid, rich...expertly portrays a young woman caught between love and duty, hope and despair." --Anjali Banerjee on The Dowry Bride

"Splendidly depicts passion, brutality, and cultures in conflict."--Dorothy Garlock on The Dowry Bride

"The Dowry Bride is an eye-opener to the challenges many Indian women face in a culture few foreigners comprehend. --ArmchairInterviews.com, 4 stars on The Dowry Bride

"A beautifully written book...Wonderful, vivid, and worth reading."--BookIdeas.com on The Dowry Bride

"An amazing story of modern India."--The Kaleidoscope on The Dowry Bride

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Young, headstrong widow Anjali Kapadia runs her parent's chic boutique in New Jersey's Little India, but she's the last to find out that their store is financially insolvent. When her parents bring in her wealthy, controlling Uncle Jeevan to rescue the business, Anjali is initially resistant to his changes, but soon has to admit that they're working—and that she's falling for her uncle's mysterious business partner, Rishi Shah. Focusing on the immigrant experience, culture clash (and resolution) and family ties, Bantwal has a forgettable story, and her Little India doesn't do much to distinguish itself—interesting for those unfamiliar with Indian culture but with little else to offer. Readers will wish Bantwal had done more with her appealing characters and New Jersey setting. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation (August 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758232020
• ISBN-13: 978-0758232021
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #584,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Shobhan Bantwal calls her writing "Bollywood in a Book," romantic, colorful, action-packed tales, rich with elements of Indian culture -- stories that entertain and educate. Her writing career is a "menopausal epiphany," because she took up creative writing at the age of 50. By day Shobhan works for the government. In the evenings and on weekends she slips on her writer's cape and flies off to Authorland. She loves writing stories about her native India and Hindu culture. To date, Shobhan has four published novels by Kensington Publishing, with a fifth one slated for August 2011 and a sixth for 2012. She is also a contributing author to a romantic anthology and freelances for a number of publications.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Pleasant Surprise Reviewer: Sucker For Freebies, August 27, 2009

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sari Shop Widow (Kindle Edition)

Here'a a book I never would have read had it not been offered free on Kindle. It turned out to be an interesting read, exposing me to an aspect of American-Indian (Desi) culture I might not otherwise have ever gotten to see.

Anjali is an American born Indian widow who has put her life on hold to make a success of her parents' sari boutique, called 'Silk and Sapphires.' To her dismay, she learns that without her realizing it, the shop is close to bankruptcy. Her father, without her knowledge or consent, calls on his rich, tyrannical elder brother for help in rescueing the business. When this brother flies in from India he is accompanied by a man unknown to any of the family, announcing that this Rishi Shah is his business partner, and that they will sort out all the problems. Anjali, being a modern American woman, doesn't want any outsiders sorting out her problems.
And from there, stock Romance ensues.

What made this book interesting was that, wrapped around a standard "romance" plot, there was a really nice look at an exotic sub-culture - in Edison,N.J. of all places, that I surely did not know existed. It was fascinating to read about, and elevated this run-of-the-mill romance a step above the norm. A really pleasant surprise!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A window into a different culture, September 6, 2009

By 

Eve Paludan (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Sari Shop Widow (Kindle Edition)

I got this book free on Kindle and it was a good read, hence the three stars. The rich cultural family life and love relationships were a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed reading the emotional growth of an almost-40 Indian-American widow (a successful fashion designer and partner in a family sari shop) and her relationship with (first) a sex-buddy type of boyfriend to whom I never warmed up. She finally lets herself fall for someone who truly loves her for herself and who is someone of whom her family would also approve, despite one sort of black mark in the relationship department on the part of the hero, and with the sex buddy on hers. Though her husband has been dead for ten years, she still carries a torch, which made me really love her character. This meant the eventual hero would have to really outshine the almost-beatific love she had for her dead husband. I felt that the ending was somewhat abrupt and not as richly written as the rest of the book, but I did get my happily ever after. It was just lacking the previous zeal of the other chapters. The characterizations of her family were well drawn. What a scrumptious hero who is even more empathetic because of a slight disability that has a secret story behind it. I look forward to other books from this author and will be hunting for some more good ethnic romance reads. This is not my usual reading fare and I was happy to have gotten the chance to be introduced to this author because the book was free on Kindle for a short time. Next time, I will buy her title!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars super ethnic family drama, August 29, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sari Shop Widow (Paperback)

Anjali Kapadia had once dreamed of raising children, but after a decade since she cremated Vikram, the Indian-American has little hope of a second marriage as she has not found anyone she wants to marry though she has a secret boyfriend she hides from her parents. Nearing forty with her biological clock winding down, she has all but given up on her dream. Everything else in her life is good as she and her parents Mohan and Usha run the Silk and Sapphires upscale boutique in the Little India neighborhood of Edison, New Jersey where she designs clothing.

However, Anjali is ignorant of the fact that the shop is failing. Her desperate father Mohan asks his wealthy older brother for help. Anjali's Uncle Jeevan-kaka has not been state side in five years, but comes from India to see what he can do to save the boutique. He is a benevolent dictator who drove Anjali and her mom crazy with his demands on his last visit. Jeevan arrives in New Jersey with his London-based business partner Rishi Shah, an expert on saving businesses buried in red ink. They plan to save the shop but also demand fifty-one percent ownership of the store. As Anjali and Rishi fall in love, she must decide can she trust him with her heart, her boutique, and her future when he already has a client girlfriend?

This is a super ethnic family drama from an author who consistently provides readers with great profound novels that give insight into the Indian especially the Indian-American Hindu culture (see THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER and THE DOWRY BRIDE). Once again the fully developed characters make for a strong deep look at Hindu life in central New Jersey with the romance augmenting the insightful look. Shobhan Bantwal's enjoyable novels are incredibly entertaining but also enlightening as the reader sips masala chai.

Harriet Klausner