Divakaruni’s two latest novels are Independence (the sweeping story of three sisters caught up in India’s freedom struggle in the 1940s) and The Last Queen (about the brave 19th century freedom fighter Maharani Jindan). Independence may be ordered here and here; The Last Queen may be ordered here and here.

South Asian American writer Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author, poet, fiction writer and professor of Creative Writing. Her themes include the Indian experience, contemporary America, women, immigration, history, myth, family, and the joys and challenges of living in a multicultural world. Her books have been translated into 29 languages, and her work has appeared in over a hundred magazines and anthologies. Several of her novels and stories have been made into films and plays. She has won an American Book Award, a Light of India award, a Premio Scanno (Italy), and a Barbara Deming award, among others. Divakaruni teaches Creative Writing at the University of Houston and writes for both adults and children. In 2015, she was chosen by the Economic Times for their list Twenty Most Influential Global Indian Women.