{"product_id":"9780972145916","title":"Chance Meetings: Stories About Cross-Cultural Karmic Collisions and Compassion","description":"Chance Meetings: Stories About Cross-Cultural Karmic Collisions and Compassion\u003cp\u003eIn this eloquent collection of stories, twelve different people from different walks of life discover how one chance meeting with a stranger can change a person forever.\u003cbr\u003eDrawing from her own Indian-American heritage, Madhu Bazaz Wangu examines the lives of ordinary people facing challenging circumstances-cruelty, prejudiced minds, twisted family relationships, unhappy marriages-and demonstrates how these situations transcend ethnicity and background as interactions with strangers force each character to look deep within themselves, often acknowledging painful truths and long-held secrets, in order to seize control of their own destinies and forge their own paths to independence and happiness.\u003cbr\u003eMadhu Bazaz Wangu poignantly weaves a universal message that ties the characters in these stories together, one that applies to anyone who has experienced poverty, jealousy, fear, prejudice, disillusionment, and above all, the feeling of being a foreigner, even within one's own family.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStory Summaries:\u003cbr\u003eSecret Healer: One small town boy's journey from the innocence of childhood to the injustices of servitude before finding shelter with an old man.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCadmium and Crimson: Two sculptors, one goal-to make masterpieces in three dimensions. The older dedicates his life to art and his younger contemporary to success. Where do their intentions lead them?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlackened Mirror: A successful artist discovers his authentic self.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Chance Meeting: A young man treats a total stranger the way he wants to be treated without expecting anything in return to amazing effect. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYellow Jacket: The protagonist is unable to resolve the guilt caused by the jealousy toward his younger brother as a result of his sudden death. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Thug: In an intense, frightful hour, a woman realizes the folly of gossip.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Precious Gift: After her son's death, a distraught woman learns from her old mother how to cope with loss. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn American Dialogue\u003cbr\u003eA synchronic event changes a prejudiced woman's beliefs about a man from a religion other than her own. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDarkness Behind Eyes: At the age of seventy-two, the deep driving desire of a woman who has wanted to learn to read since her teen years helps her achieve her goal.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGauri's Freedom: An arranged marriage dramatically alters a young woman's plans for her life until she meets another woman by chance who inspires her to take her life into her own hands through determination and self-sufficiency.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCycle of Life: A young, idealistic woman learns why and how life goes on despite suffering, anguish and physical pain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePortable Shrine: A writer discovers she is capable of more than she thought through the life lessons learned by the characters in her novel.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Madhu B. Wangu","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47023849701616,"sku":"9780972145916","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780972145916_p0.jpg?v=1763876705","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780972145916","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}