The Unknown Errors of Our Lives

In nine poignant stories spiked with humor and intelligence, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni captures lives at crossroad momentscaught between past and present, home and abroad, tradition and fresh experience. A widow in California, recently arrived from India, struggles to adapt to a world in which neighbors are strangers and her domestic skills are deemed superfluous in the award-winning "Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter." In "The Intelligence of Wild Things," a woman from Sacramento visits her brother in Vermont to inform him that back in Calcutta their mother is dying. And in the title story, a painter looks to ancient myth and the example of her grandmother for help in navigating her first real crisis of faith. Knowing, compassionate and expertly rendered, the stories in The Unknown Errors of Our Lives depict the eternal struggle to find a balance between the pull of home and the allure of change.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is the bestselling author of the novels <b>Sister of My Heart</b><i> </i>and <b>The Mistress of Spices</b>; the story collections <b>The Unknown Errors of Our Lives</b><i> </i>and <b>Arranged Marriage</b><i>, </i>which received several awards, including the American Book Award; and four collections of prize-winning poetry. Her work has appeared in <i>The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Ms., Zoetrope, Good Housekeeping, O: The Oprah Magazine, The Best American Short Stories 1999, </i>and <i>The New York Times. </i>Born in India, Divakaruni lives near Houston.<br><br>For further information about Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, visit her Web site at www.chitradivakaruni.com.