If Today Be Sweet

by Thrity Umrigar

This is a beautifully written novel about a widow in Ohio dealing with the loss of her husband and country. After he died she has to make a decision: go back to India, the place where her fondest memories were born, or remain in Ohio with her only son and his American wife. She marvels at how successful he has been adjusting to American culture - eating American food, wearing American clothes, and even speaking the way Americans do - but, she questions whether or not she will be able to assimilate herself. With the voice of her deceased husband to guide her, she struggles to gain perspective on her new life while watching the drama of her son's life as an immigrant in American unfold.

"a convincing testament to the enduring power of place." -- Kirkus Reviews

Thrity Umrigar is the author of five other novels-The World We Found, The Weight of Heaven, The Space Between Us, If Today Be Sweet, and Bombay Time-and the memoir First Darling of the Morning. An award-winning journalist, she has been a contributor to the Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Huffington Post, among other publications. She is the winner of the Nieman Fellowship to Harvard, Cleveland Arts Prize, and Seth Rosenberg Prize, and is the Armington Professor of English at Case-Western Reserve University.