Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bombay Time | 1990 | Thrity Umrigar | Buy |
| 2 | If Today Be Sweet | 2007 | Thrity Umrigar | Buy |
| 3 | The Weight of Heaven | 2009 | Thrity Umrigar | Buy |
| 4 | The World We Found | 2012 | Thrity Umrigar | Buy |
| 5 | The Story Hour | 2014 | Thrity Umrigar | Buy |
| 6 | Everybody’s Son | 2017 | Thrity Umrigar | Buy |
| 7 | Honor | 2022 | Thrity Umrigar | Buy |
| 8 | The Museum of Failures | 2023 | Thrity Umrigar | Buy |
| 9 | Missing Sam | 2026 | Thrity Umrigar | Buy |
Thrity Umrigar’s standalone novels span more than three decades and cover a range of settings and subjects, though most return to questions about Indian identity, class, and the immigrant experience. Her debut, Bombay Time, is set among a Parsi community in Mumbai and follows the members of an apartment building as they gather for a wedding. If Today Be Sweet (2007) follows an Indian widow visiting her son in Ohio who must decide whether to stay in America or return home.
Several of her later novels take on weightier social issues. The Weight of Heaven (2009) examines an American couple’s relationship with a local boy after they move to India following a personal tragedy. Everybody’s Son (2017) explores race and adoption in America when a white judge takes in a young Black boy. Honor (2022) was her biggest commercial success, selected for Oprah’s Book Club, and centers on the aftermath of an honor killing in a rural Indian village.
Umrigar’s most recent novels continue to explore cross-cultural tensions. The Museum of Failures (2023) follows a man returning to Mumbai to adopt a child and confronting painful family memories. Missing Sam (2026) is her latest. Throughout her career, Umrigar has drawn on her background as both an Indian-born woman and a long-time American resident, and her fiction reflects the complexity of living between two cultures.