The Mistress of Spices: Chitra Divakaruni

The store has been here for only one year, but many people think that it has always been here. Above the door are faded brown letters which say: spice bazaar.
I, too, look as if I have always been here. When customers enter, they see an old bent woman with skin the color of sand. The foods in my store remind them of India-the land most of them left behind when they came to America.
They don't know the truth about me, of course. They don't know that I'm not really old-that this body is not really mine. I am Tilo, the Mistress of Spices. I can see into the hearts and lives of my customers. I know all their secrets and all their problems.