Sister of My Heart cover art

Sister of My Heart

A Novel

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £14.92

Buy Now for £14.92

About this listen

From the award-winning author of Mistress of Spices, the best-selling novel about the extraordinary bond between two women, and the family secrets and romantic jealousies that threaten to tear them apart.

Anju is the daughter of an upper-caste Calcutta family of distinction. Her cousin Sudha is the daughter of the black sheep of that same family. Sudha is startlingly beautiful; Anju is not. Despite those differences, since the day on which the two girls were born, the same day their fathers died - mysteriously and violently - Sudha and Anju have been sisters of the heart. Bonded in ways even their mothers cannot comprehend, the two girls grow into womanhood as if their fates as well as their hearts were merged.

But when Sudha learns a dark family secret, that connection is shattered. For the first time in their lives, the girls know what it is to feel suspicion and distrust. Urged into arranged marriages, Sudha and Anju's lives take opposite turns. Sudha becomes the dutiful daughter-in-law of a rigid small-town household. Anju goes to America with her new husband and learns to live her own life of secrets. When tragedy strikes each of them, however, they discover that despite distance and marriage, they have only each other to turn to.

Set in the two worlds of San Francisco and India, this exceptionally moving novel tells a story at once familiar and exotic, seducing listeners from the first minute with the lush prose we have come to expect from Divakaruni. Sister of My Heart is a novel destined to become as widely beloved as it is acclaimed.

©1999 Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (P)2012 Tantor Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature Marriage Destiny Tear-jerking

Critic reviews

"An inspired and imaginative raconteur, Divakaruni is sure to engender comparisons with Arundhati Roy ( The God of Small Things), but Divakaruni's novel stands in its own right as a compelling read." ( Publishers Weekly)
All stars
Most relevant
I enjoyed the book, would not say one on my favourites, but a good story of love and friendship.

a good capturing story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this book, it shows love on so many levels. Love between a man and a woman, and love between two women that are friends for life. A feelgood book...a real nice read

Friends and Sisters

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
À powerful story but not very well read out. Poor pronunciation of the Bengali words.

The story is powerful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was such a beautifully written emotional rollercoaster. I really felt the genuine struggles, conflicts, joys and emotions of the two sisters. The secrets that were unveiled throughout and how the sisters each dealt with them felt so real. This book is a powerful insight into sisterhood but also into the challenges that women did and still do face.

A beautiful story of sisterhood

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Read like it was written to order .Very tame & sweet. Teen fiction not for adults

Decent narrator & bit of a twist

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.