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Alka Joshi

Goodreads Author

Born

in Jodhpur, India

Website

https://www.thehennaartist.com/

Twitter

alkajoshi

Genre

Fiction, Historical Fiction

Influences

rohintin mistry: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ...more

Member Since

May 2009

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There comes a point in every daughter's life when she begins seeing her mother as a person separate from her family, someone who has an identity outside of motherhood. That was the moment I began re-imagining my mother's life, and that re-imagining became THE HENNA ARTIST. I was born in Rajasthan, India, and moved with my family to the U.S. when I was nine. Even after graduating from Stanford University, and working in advertising and marketing, I never considered becoming an author. But taking my mother to India in her later years changed all that. In 2011, I got my MFA in Creative Writing from the California College of Arts in San Francisco, California. It took 10 years, a lot of research, and many trips to India to complete my debut nove ...more

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Combine Editions
Alka Joshi’s books

Average rating: 4.18 · 203,921 ratings · 17,644 reviews · 4 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Henna Artist (The Jaipur Trilogy, #1) 4.19 avg rating — 154,589 ratings — published 2020 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Secret Keeper of Jaipur (The Jaipur Trilogy, #2) 4.10 avg rating — 41,389 ratings — published 2021 — 43 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Perfumist of Paris (The Jaipur Trilogy, #3) 4.23 avg rating — 7,945 ratings — published 2023 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Perfumist Of Paris: A Novel 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

3 posts
Alka Joshi's Blog

The Sari vs. Modern India

Earlier this year, Architecture faculty at Ansal University in Gurgaon, just outside New Delhi, received an email from the registrar to attend a convocation. It requested formal dress: "trouser, coat and tie for men" and "saris for women." This sparked a lively, funny, albeit very polite, conversation on WhatsApp among the female faculty, who normally wear trousers, Western shirts/tops, or salwar Read more of this blog post »

20 likes · Like • 2 comments • flag

Published on October 25, 2019 14:37 • Tags: asian, culture, female-empowerment, india, sari, tradition

View all 3 posts »

Series by Alka Joshi

The Jaipur Trilogy (3 books)
by

Alka Joshi (Goodreads Author)

4.18 avg rating — 203,736 ratings

Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day, according to early...

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Alka’s Recent Updates

Alka Joshi answered Deanna Nakada's question: Hi Ms. Joshi, On page 219 of The Secret Keeper of Jaipur, you refer to the city of Bombay as Mumbai. The year is 1969. I thought that Bombay didn't change to Mumbai until 1995? Elsewhere in the book, you refer to the city as Bombay. Hi Deanna, Kudos for being such a careful reader! You are absolutely right: it should have been Bombay throughout the novel. Even after multiple proofreads by me, my editor and the proofreader, we miss some things. I can't wait for you to read The Pe See Full Answer
Mar 06, 2023 09:49AM · 13 likes · like
Alka Joshi wants to read The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 24, 2022 08:59PM · 8 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alka Joshi voted for Kaikeyi as Best Debut Novel in the Opening Round of the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards. Cast Your Vote
Nov 16, 2022 09:22AM · 1 like · like
Alka Joshi recommended All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy, #1) to George Smith All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy, #1) by Cormac McCarthy	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 01, 2022 09:52AM · 3 likes · like
Alka Joshi joined the group Fierce Females Flourish!
Sep 10, 2022 09:13AM · 1 like · like
Alka Joshi made a comment on her review of The Alice Network " Isn't Kate's writing amazing? Love her! Hugs, THE Alka Joshi :-) ...more "
Aug 03, 2022 08:31AM · see review
Alka Joshi wants to read White Ivy by Susie Yang (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 31, 2022 08:28AM · 5 likes · like
Alka Joshi and 12 other people liked Shaya Zucker's review of The Henna Artist (The Jaipur Trilogy, #1): "I really enjoyed The Henna Artist. I traveled through India and visited Jaipur the pink city. The story kept my interest, and the characters were well developed. The author captures the complications in a changing Independent India."
May 08, 2022 10:51PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Alka Joshi wants to read The Feathered Nest (The Thornton Mysteries #4) by Ellen Read (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 05, 2022 07:41PM · 1 like · like

More of Alka's books…

Quotes by Alka Joshi (?)

“Success was ephemeral—and fluid—as I’d found out the hard way. It came. It went. It changed you from the outside, but not from the inside. Inside, I was still the same girl who dreamed of a destiny greater than she was allowed. Did I really need the house to prove I had skill, talent, ambition, intelligence? What if—”
― Alka Joshi, The Henna Artist

41 likes

“there were three kinds of karma: the accumulated karma from all our past lives; the karma we created in this life; and the karma we stored to ripen in our future lives.”
― Alka Joshi, The Henna Artist

33 likes

“People are more gullible and less compassionate than any of us want to believe.”
― Alka Joshi, The Henna Artist

tags: compassion, compassionate, gullible

25 likes

See all Alka Joshi's quotes »

Polls

January BoTM Nominations ~ Book Published in 2020 ~ Final Poll

The Midnight Library

by Matt Haig

14 votes, 35.0%

The Vanishing Half

by Brit Bennett

10 votes, 25.0%

The Last Flight

by Julie Clark

6 votes, 15.0%

The Henna Artist

by Alka Joshi

5 votes, 12.5%

This Is How I Lied

by Heather Gudenkauf

5 votes, 12.5%

40 total votes

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Alka’s Quotes

“I should have known that Moti-Lal would figure it out. More than once, he’s told me selling gold requires an insight into human nature. He says you must be able to discern the intensity of a customer’s desire by looking into their eyes. That will tell you what to show, what to hold back, and how much the customer is willing to part with.”
― Alka Joshi, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur

3 likes

“Be humble for you are made of earth Be noble for you are made of stars. —SERBIAN PROVERB”
― Alka Joshi, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur

7 likes