The Abundance

An ideal book club title, The Abundance is a richly observed look at how a mother’s terminal illness challenges and strengthens her relationship with her daughter. Mala and Ronak are adults now. They’ve married, begun their own families, and moved away from the suffocating world of their first-generation parents. But when their mother tells them she’s been diagnosed with terminal cancer, the focus of their world returns to her home, and in the case of Mala, her kitchen. Having never shown an interest in the lovingly-made food they eat at every gathering, she becomes determined to learn the recipes her mother learned at her own mother’s knee. As they cook together, passing the skills from one generation to the next, Mala and her mother are finally able to confront the great divisions of their lives, the secrets, lies, and quiet failings. But when Ronak comes up with a plan to memorialise his mother, the hard-won peace between them all will be tested to its limits