Born and raised in Chicago, Sharmila Sen longs for a deeper connection to her Indian heritage. Just past her thirtieth birthday and satisfied with her professional life as an artist, Sharmila's love life leaves much to be desired. After some consideration, she decides to follow in the footsteps of her grandmother, mother, and many other women in her community and agrees to an arranged marriage. At first, Sharmila is thrilled with Raj Khosla, a handsome, successful New Dehli businessman who writes Sharmila passionate letters promising a beautiful life together, yet when she arrives in India doubts begin to gather. While Sharmila is falling in love with the vibrant, chaotic street life and serene monuments and traditions that make up paradoxical modern India, her intended husband seems cold and distant, her future mother-in-law is controlling and suspicious, and there is a sinister mystery surrounding the "accidental" death of Raj's first wife. To complicate matters further, Sharmila's friendship with the family's chauffeur, a member of the "untouchable" caste, is growing increasingly intense. In her second novel of romance and suspense with an exotic flavor, Bharti Kirchner once again explores the richness and confusions of belonging to two cultures. In Sharmila, she has created a wry, always engaging heroine-- a contemporary woman who embraces the traditional life-- only to become liberated in the most unexpected ways.