Tilo, an immigrant from india, runs an indian spice shop in oakland, california. While she dispenses the classic ingredients for curries and kormas, she also helps her customers to gain a more precious commodity: whatever they most desire. For tilo is a mistress of spices, a priestess of the secret, magical powers of spices. Through those who visit and revisit her shop - ahuja's wife, caught in an unhappy, abusive marriage; jagjit, the victim of racist attacks at school; the noisy bougainvillaea girls, rejecting the strict upbringing of their tradition-bound indian parents; haroun who drives a taxi and dreams the american dream - we get a glimpse into the life of the local indian expatriate community. To each tilo dispenses wisdom and the appropriate spice: coriander for sight; turmeric to erase wrinkles; cinnamon for finding friends; fenugreek to make a rejected wife desirable again; chillies for the cleansing of evil. But when a lonely american comes into the store, a troubled tilo cannot find the right spice, for he arouses in her a forbidden desire, and following her own desires will destroy her magical powers. Compelling and lyrical, full of heady scents and with more than a touch of humour, this novel explores the clash between east and west even as it unveils the universal mysteries of the human heart. - from Amzon