If today be sweet by Thrity. N. Umrigar

Umrigar, Thrity.N. If today be sweet. New York : William Marrow/Harper Collins, 2007.

This book deals with extended family joining the westernised family and the tensions that accompany such integration.  Tehmina is a middle-aged widow visitng her son Sorab and his American wife in Ohio.  She is heartbroken and is not in a position to make such an important decision which will alter her life for ever.  She has to decide whether she spends the rest of her life in the sterile Midwest or prefer the earthy, chaotic Bombay.  Meanwhile, the lack of privacy for her son and his wife, puts added pressure on their marriage.

This could have been another story about widowhood, but Umrigar, is able to convey emotions about love, death, identity crisis and bridging of cultures.  It will appeal to readers as it is a sublime tale of cross-cultural lives driven by tradition and transformed by love.

Thrity Umrigar is an Indian American writer, who was born in Mumbai and immigrated to US.  She is a journalist and writer by profession.  Other books to her credit are:  Bombay Time, The space between us and The weight of heaven.