Reviewed by Patricia Woodside
Posted September 21, 2009

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Thirty-seven year old Anjali is a New Jersey shop owner and widow. When she discovers that the family store is in financial trouble, she is sick with misery. Her misery increases upon learning her demanding, penny-pinching uncle Jeevan is coming from India to help save the store. That misery turns into shock when Uncle Jeevan arrives with an attractive stranger in tow.

Rishi Shah is Jeevan's business partner, and their personal relationship is unclear and mysterious, but he's a financial whiz come to apply his business acumen to saving Anjali's Silk and Sapphires. To do so, Anjali must learn to trust him, despite her misgivings, both professionally and personally.

THE SARI SHOP WIDOW is the second book I've had the pleasure to read by Ms. Bantwal. This one examines Indian culture as lived on the shores of Edison, New Jersey. Again, Ms. Bantwal provides a picture window into a culture that many may consider mysterious and cloaked behind an ever-present façade of polite reserve. The developing romance between Anjali and Rishi is delicately woven, sensitive to the timidity of a young widow and to the propriety of a British businessman. When it begins to heat up, the reader takes a leap of faith with the inexperienced Anjali, and just like her, forgets about the lover who kept her company until Rishi's arrival complicated her life.

I gladly recommend THE SARI SHOP WIDOW, an endearing story of romance between two people from different cultures who regain their faith in the possibility of lifelong love.

The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal

Summary

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...