Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

Trisha says, “Do you know what these hands are worth?” and DJ catches it himself, burning his own hands. Raje, dubbed HRH (His Royal Highness-he has a title in India) by his children, demands Trisha avoid her one-time bad-news friend, Julia Wickham, who has recently been sniffing around the hospital where Trisha and her dad both work.Īfter raising DJ’s hackles by invading the kitchen in search of sustenance while he’s working there, Trisha offends him further by almost knocking over a hot pot of sauce as they argue and refusing to catch it. Second, just when she decides to attend the party as an overture to her family, from whom she’s been estranged, she is confronted by her father. First she has to tell her patient that the surgery that could save her life will cost her her eyesight (Trisha’s patient is none other than DJ’s sister, Emma). The day they meet is a rough day for Trisha.

DJ badly needs more jobs to pay for a surgery that will save his sister’s life. It’s very important that he impress Trisha’s mother and her sister, Nisha, because they have bigger catering jobs to offer him and can also spread the word about his cooking skills. DJ is catering a party for Trisha’s brother, Yash, a primary candidate in California’s gubernatorial race. The conflict between DJ and Trisha begins when they first meet. He is quick to judge and slow to forgive, like Elizabeth Bennett in P&P.

And DJ Caine, the hero, a skilled chef British chef, is the novel’s other main protagonist. Darcy-a proud neurosurgeon, occasionally impatient enough to give an impression of arrogance. Trisha Raje, the heroine, is not the Elizabeth Bennett figure, but rather the novel’s Mr. Not only is the novel set in the modern-day Bay Area’s Indian-American community, but the gender roles are flipped. I know what some readers of this review must be thinking: Does the world really need another take on P&P? Retellings of Austen’s satirical novel are thick on the ground, and have been since the classic novel was revived by the film adaptation starring Keira Knightley and the success of such retellings as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.īut Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors has fresh elements to offer. As is evident from its title, your recent novel, the start of a series about the Raje family, is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev