Set twelve years after the ending of the story The Henna Artist, we once again meet Lakshmi, Dr. Jay, Malik, Samir, Kanta, and a new wonderful character, Nimmi. Lakshmi works at the clinic in Shimla and Malik is in Jaipur learning his trade. Malik has fallen in love with the widow (Nimmi) and her children. He longs to rejoin her in Shimla. In the meantime, Maliklearns of architectural techniques through the Singh family and Samir. Multi layered and deeply researched, this book is wonderful. I loved how it combined the Henna Artist and that history. I loved learning of the Indian and tribal traditions. This is a book to savor while you await the final book in the trilogy, The Perfumist of Paris.