The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

At age seventeen, Lakshmi escaped an abusive arranged marriage. She eventually made her way to Jaipur where she used the skills her saas (mother-in-law) taught her to endear herself to the wealthy upper-class women. The herbal remedies she learned as well as her skill as a henna artist will earn her a place as a confidante of many of these women. Lakshmi carefully avoids any scandal that could ruin her reputation.

Ten years after she escaped, it is 1950s in Jaipur and Lakshmi is finishing building her own home. She has invited her parents to move from rural India to live with her and she is hoping for their arrival. Instead, her husband finds her with a young teenage girl in tow. The girl is the sister Lakshmi never knew she had. Her sister moves in with her and proves to be headstrong and quite a challenge. Everything Lakshmi carefully built is suddenly out of balance and she may lose it all.

I really enjoyed this story. It takes place just a few years after India gained independence from British rule. The historical context with the pull between Indian traditional culture, modern culture and British culture was fascinating. Lakshmi was a strong character and I really enjoyed reading the story from her perspective. There is a glossary at the end of the book to translate some of the Indian terms, but I read the eBook and did not realize it until the end! It was completely readable and enjoyable without the translations, but they were helpful once I discovered them.

Check out The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi at the Library (https://catalog.lclibs.org/polaris/search/title.aspx…) or through our eLibrary at https://lclibs.overdrive.com/media/4705917.