Mistress of Spices

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.

★舊金山紀事報「二十世紀百大好書」、洛杉磯時報年度好書、西雅圖時報年度好書、英國柑橘文學獎入圍
★電影《濃情戀人香》原著小說

　　我是香料的情婦。
　　從安契到番紅花，皆臣服於我，任我差遣。
　　我只需一聲呢喃，就能讓他們獻出全身精粹、全部魔力。
　　除了香料，我再也不愛任何人。我才不需要去愛可悲的凡人男子。
　　我相信這點。完全相信。

　　天邊的眼之星、自負的巫女先知、無情的海盜女王--她是緹蘿塔瑪，從一個名字流浪到另一個名字的渴愛之人。當頭戴珠寶的海蛇指引她至香料之島、成為香料情婦的那一天起，她便誓言棄絕自我，虛心潛居於衰老與皺紋之下，終生侍奉香料。
　　於是緹蘿穿越銀河夜空，自灰燼中醒來，投身「香料小舖」，等候需要療癒的陌生人叩門。她聽從始祖嬤嬤的叮嚀，恪守情婦戒律：不照鏡子、迴避任何肌膚之親、不得踏出香料舖一步、只能醫人不能自醫，更重要的是，不能愛上任何人。
　　然而，香料並未馴服她的天性，她那多骨節的火山手掌紋複雜，險路暗伏。她一再違抗香料，將魔力御為己用，甚至，愛上一個人......
　　聽！香料們正鼓譟喧嘩，悄聲引燃桑巴帝之火，警告破戒的情婦，地震將至。
　　肉桂施予友伴、茴香熨息怒氣，蓮藕催情、乾胡椒讓人盡吐真言。
　　香料啊，你究竟是罪咎的良醫，還是欲望的使徒？

作者簡介：

Born in India, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni lives near San Francisco with her husband and two children. She teaches creative writing at a local college, and is the coordinator for a helpline for South Asian women. She is the author of several award-winning volumes of poetry, as well as Arranged Marriage, her acclaimed collection of short stories, a bestseller in America and winner of the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Prize for fiction, an American Book Award, and the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award for fiction. She is also the author of two novels, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart.

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