One Amazing Thing

The latest novel from the author of The Mistress of Spices opens in the visa office of an American city's Indian consulate. Late in the afternoon a violent earthquake destroys the building, imprisoning nine people: a wealthy couple whose relationship is on the rocks; a young Muslim-American man struggling with the fallout of 9/11; a graduate student wracked by a question about love; a Vietnam War veteran searching for redemption; an elderly Chinese woman with a secret past; her teenage granddaughter; and two visa office workers on the verge of an adulterous affair. Life hangs in the balance. To distract them from the psychological stress of their struggle to escape the wreckage, the graduate student suggests that each person tell the story of the "one amazing thing" in his or her life.



As their tales of romance, family, political upheaval, and self-discovery unfold, One Amazing Thing reveals the transcendent power of human expression.

Co-Hosted with Politics and Prose Bookstore.