One Amazing Thing

A catastrophic earthquake traps nine strangers together in this “page-turner with high drama [and] elegant writing” (Houston Chronicle).

“One Amazing Thing collapses the walls dividing characters and cultures; what endures is a chorus of voices in one single room.” —Jhumpa Lahiri, author of Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake

The scene: Late afternoon sun sneaks through the windows of a passport and visa office in an unnamed American city. Out of nowhere, an earthquake rips through the lull, trapping nine disparate people together, with little food and no way to escape the slowly flooding office. When the psychological and emotional stress becomes nearly too much for them to bear, the young graduate student among them suggests that each tell a personal tale, “one amazing thing” from their lives, which they have never told anyone before. And as their surprising stories of romance, marriage, family, political upheaval, and self-discovery unfold against the urgency of their life-or-death circumstances, the novel proves the transcendent power of stories and the meaningfulness of human expression itself.

“A storyteller of exquisite lyricism and compassion, Divakaruni weaves a suspenseful, astute, and unforgettable survivors’ tale.” —Booklist

“Incredible and highly original . . . [A] jewel of a story.” —Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone

“The appeal of these life stories, like that of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, is that they throw the spotlight onto varied lives, each with its own joys and miseries. . . . An absorbing novel.” —Washington Post