“Never in my ten-year journey of writing this book– did I ever think that the Henna Artist would be picked by Reese’s Book Club–so thank you so much!

My mother was the main inspiration for my book. When my mother was 18, her father took her out of school and said “I have arranged a marriage for you” and that was to my father. So she was trained to be this very obedient woman and follow her family choice for her to get married. Within four years she had three small children and her life was never her own. She never got to make any of the major decisions in her life, but she made sure that I as her only daughter would always be able to make my own decisions. So she gave me such a gift with her teachings and encouragement. She always said I was so brave, so courageous, so kind and so smart. So I wanted to give her the gift back. My gift was reimagine her life as a woman who could make all the major decisions in her life. And that is what Lakshmi was able to do in ‘The Henna Artist'”.

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