Lahiri, who is of Indian heritage, was born in London, grew up in Rhode Island, and now lives in New York City. She knows her subject and is an insightful, sensitive writer. While any of these stories could be used in a Medical Humanities context, three seem particularly appropriate.

"A Temporary Matter" concerns the gradual dissolution of a marriage following the stillbirth of a woman's first pregnancy. The narrative view is that of the husband, a graduate student who takes over the role of cooking as his increasingly distracted and remote wife seeks refuge in her job.

But the husband is depressed himself, feeling vaguely guilty because he had been at an academic conference when his wife went into premature labor--a situation that his mother-in-law holds against him. It is only in the darkness caused by an electrical power failure that husband and wife are finally able to communicate: "They wept together, for the things they now knew." (p. 22)

A lonely pre-pubescent (American) boy and his home-sick Indian babysitter form a bond in "Mrs. Sen's," a story that emphasizes the difficulties faced by Indian wives who are left at home to cope, without friends or family, while their husbands immerse themselves in the professional, collegial lives that brought them to the United States.

In "The Third and Final Continent," a newly married young Indian man makes his way from Calcutta to London to Boston. In Boston he needs to establish himself before sending for his young wife, who remains in India. He lives in a rented room in the home of an aged woman whose peculiar habits he comes to accept.

The story of their interaction parallels his reflections on his own arranged marriage--to which he has not yet adjusted; memories of his mother's mental disintegration following the death of her husband; and his acute awareness of the differences between Indian and American ways. All of these threads come together in an epiphany that allows him to enter into a long and loving relationship with his wife.