/lit/ - Literature

I read the Henna Artist by Alka Joshi for my real life book club. It was bretty good. Here's a greentext of the novel.

> main character is poo woman named Lakshmi in 1950s India
> she was arranged married at age 14 to an alcoholic guy who beat her erryday
> she learned about Ayurvedic medicine (traditional Indian medicine) from husband's mother
> at age 17, she was skilled enough to make a living as a herbal medicine woman, so she ran away to Jaipur
> uses her skill to help women with family planning
> she can make herbal birth control and herbal abortions, but also herbal stuff that helps women get pregnant
> also learns to mix plants to make henna paint and drawing good henna pictures
> starts a new business: she is a henna artist who helps women get pregnant, and thus can charge 10x as much as normal henna artists
> now age 30, she made enough to buy a house, her career and life are stable, everything is good, right?
> nope
> her ex-husband shows up and he brought along a 13-year-old girl
> main character's parents had a baby the year main character left and she had no idea
> ex-husband drops off little sister and leaves
> later in the book, we find out that he's sorry for beating her and to make amends, he becomes an herbal gynecologist for the poor women of Jaipur
> shit, main character has to make money to pay the bills, she has no time to babysit little sister
> main character's infertile female friend offers to babysit sister while main character works
> during day, little sister goes to school, after school she goes to infertile auntie's house or helps main character with henna bizniz
> a few months later
> little sister gets knocked up by a 17-year-old boy at school
> SHAME SHAME SHAME
> no one wants to get henna designs from someone who has a family member who is having an out of wedlock child
> her business fails, she has to sell the house
> main character, little sister, and infertile friend go to small village in the mountains to have baby
> hot Chad divorced male doctor in hospital is impressed with main character's herbal knowledge and skills
> he hires her as the Ayurvedic medical consultant
> baby is born
> infertile auntie and her husband adopt the boy and return to Jaipur
> main character and little sister stay in little mountain town to start a new life