The Secret Keeper of Jaipur: A novel from the bestselling author of The Henna Artist (The Jaipur Trilogy, 2)

Another wonderful book from this author. While not as provocative as her first, this book still delighted me in its intertwining stories.

References the first book but doesn't continue the story so much as pick up another beginning.
With connections across India and multiple povs this time it was so much more gripping.

There's a piece of wisdom that says that an author's sophomore effort is always a disappointment. I'm pleased to say that I've found the exception that proves that rule on more than one occassion. Joshi's sequel to The Henna Artist is another exception, making me think that perhaps we ought to stop making generalizations about sophomore efforts.

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur picks up 12 years after the events in The Henna Artist. Lakshmi has married Dr. Jay, and they are settled into their lives at the hospital, clinic, and healing garden. Malik is a young man of 20, who feels enormous fondness and not a little bit of indebtedness to Lakshmi, or "Auntie Boss". When she asks him to go back to Jaipur to apprentice in the building trade with their old friend, Manu, he of course agrees, even though he's just at the beginning of a promising relationship with Nimmi, a young widow with two children who left her tribe to try to make a life in Shimla after her husband died. In Jaipur, Malik is impressed with the Manu's biggest project, the Royal Palace Theater, and learns all he can. In Shimla, Nimmi finds out that her brother has been involved with gold smugglers. The intersection of those two plots is the driving force behind the book, but Joshi fills it out with beautiful language describing Malik and Nimmi's path toward each other and Lakshmi's road to come to peace with her path, as a catastrophe forces her to return to Jaipur for the first time in twelve years.

Anyone who enjoyed The Henna Artist will get immense satisfaction from reading this second installment. Anyone who hasn't, but is looking for a well-written story about found families, with some intrigue and royalty thrown in will like this as well. It's not strictly necessary to read The Henna Artist first, but it will be easier to understand some of the action in the sequel if you do. I'm hearing rumors that this is meant to be a trilogy, and I'm excited for the third.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book for the publisher in exchange for this review.

LOVED this book maybe even more than The Henna Artist!

Alka Joshi came back to dazzle us readers once more after "The Henna Artist". This novel follows the same characters but 12 years later. The central piece here is Malik, the 8 year old adorable boy who was kind of Lakshmi's apprentice and called her Auntie-boss! Only now Malik is 20 years old, all grown up, educated, and besotted with Nimmi who is a tribal widow and mother of two children. Lakshmi is now happily married, living at Shimla (another heavenly beautiful place!), keeping the previous history of Jaipur out of her life. She sends Malik to Jaipur to start his career, more importantly, to keep him out of the local smuggling chain. Once again the author blinded us with the vividly beautiful, rich culture (now from two different beauties- Shimla and Jaipur). Although the book takes some time to gain pace, the latter half of the book was done marvelously. First half was spent more into the setting of the new characters, new atmosphere, entry of some different important issues like- gold smuggling, corruption in construction business etc. I liked this book too, but a bit less than its predecessor. It took some time to get used to. I love Malik's character, but it doesn’t quite help up on his own. Lakshmi is the true star in every scene she is a part of. She has a significant role in this book too, but she is not the central character. And I kept waiting in the whole book when Lakshmi's part will come up again. Although not quite satisfied with the second installment of the series, I do look forward to the third book of the series which will center around Radha, Lakshmi's younger sister, another dazzling, resilient character. I have a feeling that will lift up the beauty of the series even more.