What happens when life changes us—and we are left to rediscover who we are on the other side?
From Anne Hathaway being spotted holding Monica Saigal’s previous book, ‘A Kiss in Kashmir’—a captivating story of late-blooming love—to celebrated chef and filmmaker Vikas Khanna unveiling her latest book, ‘The Lotus Blooms Twice: Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption’ (Indie Press), Monica Saigal’s literary journey continues to garner attention.
Monica Saigal has been exploring the challenges and choices women face at different stages of life—from love, relationships and marriage to loss, change and starting over.
Her stories also explore female friendship, caregiving, grief, memory, desire, and the powerful role food can play in connecting us to one another and to the lives we have lived.
‘The Lotus Blooms Twice’ is a collection of fourteen short stories and a bonus novella about people confronting moments when the lives they know no longer fit quite as neatly as they once did.
The women in these stories are not beginning life. They have already lived, loved, raised families, cared for others, made mistakes, experienced loss and learned that the choices we make are rarely as simple as they appear from the outside.
Some are reckoning with betrayal. Some with grief. Some with desire they did not expect to feel again. Some are caring for people they love while confronting difficult truths about themselves. Others find themselves faced with the question that can arrive at any age: What now?
For Saigal, that question lies at the heart of ‘The Lotus Blooms Twice’.
Rather than offering reinvention as an easy answer, the collection reflects on what it means to continue becoming ourselves as we grow older. What do we carry forward? What do we leave behind? What happens to love after disappointment? And what might still surprise us when we believe we already know the shape of our lives?
These questions have particular resonance for Saigal, whose own life and work have been shaped by unexpected turns.
‘I’ve kept building a life and career through loss, single parenthood, professional changes and all the unexpected turns life brings’, she says. ‘And this chapter has been wonderfully full. At fourteen books in, I’m still telling stories, still finding new audiences and, fittingly, still blooming.’
Today, Saigal works as a culinary ambassador with Aramark, creating cultural food experiences on college campuses, and as a brand ambassador for Laxmi. Her food reels have reached millions of viewers, continuing a career in which food, storytelling, culture and human connection have remained closely intertwined.
With ‘The Lotus Blooms Twice’, Saigal is less interested in presenting answers than in asking questions about the complicated middle of a life: about love after loss, desire after disappointment, the identities women inherit and relinquish, and the possibility of discovering something new about ourselves when we thought we already knew who we were.
The lotus, after all, does not bloom because nothing difficult has happened. It blooms from what it has lived through.
Fourteen unforgettable stories plus a bonus novella about ordinary people discovering that even after heartbreak, life can bloom with hope, connection, and unexpected joy.
From Delhi’s narrow lanes to quiet Virginia kitchens, Monica Saigal explores what happens when women in midlife confront betrayal, grief, longing, and second chances. A father questions the truth of his family. A widow at the Taj Mahal waits for memory to return. A wife in a comfortable marriage feels desire stir in unexpected ways. A woman must choose between survival and silence.
These are not fairy tales. They are stories of women who have lived long enough to know that love is rarely simple—and that survival is its own form of grace.
This multicultural literary fiction collection speaks directly to women in their 50s and beyond who are navigating complicated relationships, caregiving, reinvention, and rediscovered desire.
Equal parts storyteller and globe-trotter, Monica Saigal (Bhide), is an award-winning author, accomplished literary coach, and educator who transcends countless borders—chronological, geographical, religious, and economical—to inspire her readers. Born in New Delhi, raised in the Middle East, and now residing outside Washington, D.C., she currently serves as a corporate storyteller for one of the world’s leading professional services companies. Her prolific portfolio, enriched by the many places she calls home, channels a distinctly cosmopolitan worldview.
Monica writes in a variety of genres and has written best-selling short story collections and heartwarming love stories, as well as acclaimed memoirs and cookbooks—Eat Your Books chose Monica’s memoir, A Life of Spice as one of the top five food memoirs of 2015 and Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi picked Monica’s Modern Spice as one of the ‘Best Books Ever’ for Newsweek in 2009. Her captivating romance novel, A Kiss in Kashmir was released in February 2024 and her first children’s book, Papa’s Butter Chicken, was released on October 1, 2024. Her latest collection of short stories, The Lotus Blooms Twice, released on October 1, 2026.
‘The Lotus Blooms Twice’ Author Monica Saigal
(Photo Credit: Rashmi Gill Photography)
To delve deeper into how Monica’s latest release touches upon the journey called life and the experiences and emotions that come along, Sonakshi Datta of GoaChronicle posed a few questions to her.
What, according to you, is continuing becoming ourselves as we grow older, a facet that your latest book touches upon?
I love this question because I think we are always becoming! At 57, I am still discovering who I am, what brings me joy and what I want from life.
For so much of our lives, particularly as women, we define ourselves through our relationships and responsibilities. We are daughters, wives, mothers, caregivers, and professionals. But what happens when those roles change?
My parents have passed away, my two wonderful sons are now independent, and I find myself in a chapter of life I have never experienced before. For the first time, I am asking myself what I want to do simply because it makes me happy.
I think growing older gives us the wonderful opportunity to let go of expectations, including our own. We don’t have to be who we were at 25 or 35 or even 50.
That is really the heart of ‘The Lotus Blooms Twice’. We are not finished becoming ourselves at any particular age. There is always room for another bloom.
What, as per your understanding, are the challenges that one faces while manoeuvring around this changing path called life? And how does one deal with these challenges?
I think one of the biggest challenges is accepting that life rarely goes according to plan! As the saying goes – ‘Mann ka ho to achha, na ho to zyada achha!!’
I certainly didn’t imagine that I would find myself divorced after a long marriage, raising two sons as a single mother, rebuilding my career and navigating the loss of both my parents. There have been some very difficult years.
But I have also experienced incredible kindness, beautiful friendships, professional success, and the extraordinary joy of watching my children grow into wonderful human beings.
What has helped me is learning to be flexible about what life should look like. Sometimes we hold on so tightly to an idea of how things are supposed to be that we miss the beauty of what is actually happening.
I also believe in asking for help, surrounding ourselves with people who genuinely care about us and allowing ourselves to change direction. This is very important, honestly, as we are also conditioned to endure and asking for any kind of help is seen as a weakness.
And perhaps most importantly, I have learned that we don’t have to be strong every single moment. Sometimes it is enough to rest, laugh with a friend, make a delicious meal and trust that we will find our way.
What, as per your experience, are the most important lessons that the unexpected turns that life takes, teach us?
Oh, so many lessons! I think the biggest one for me has been that we are capable of far more than we imagine.
When I look back at my life, there were times when I genuinely didn’t know how I would get through certain challenges. And yet, here I am. I have built a life that brings me, and I hope my readers and friends and family, tremendous joy.
But I have also learned something else, and perhaps this is the more important lesson.
For years, I thought life was about being resilient, overcoming obstacles and becoming stronger. I became very good at surviving! But recently, I realized that I don’t want to spend the rest of my life proving how strong I am.
I want to enjoy being alive.
I want to savor the beautiful ordinary moments, a cup of chai with a friend, a good book, a conversation with my sons, a quiet evening at home.
I think unexpected turns teach us that happiness doesn’t always look the way we imagined it would. Sometimes it is quieter, simpler and far more beautiful.
And we don’t have to wait for something extraordinary to happen to experience it.
What makes ‘The Lotus Blooms Twice’ a must-read for all people, from all walks of life?
I have always believed that stories are what connect us as human beings.
We may come from different countries, cultures, religions, or generations, but the emotions we experience are remarkably similar. We all know what it feels like to love someone, to lose someone, to feel betrayed, to hope for something wonderful or to wish we could have a second chance.
‘The Lotus Blooms Twice’ explores these emotions through fourteen stories. There is a story about loving someone whose memory is fading, another about finding romance when you least expect it, and others about family secrets, difficult choices, friendship, grief, and redemption.
Some stories will make you smile. Others may break your heart a little. And hopefully, a few will make you think about your own life differently.
My hope is that readers will recognize a little of themselves, or someone they love, in these pages.
And if there is one thought that I would love readers to take away, it is this: No matter what has happened in your life, there is always the possibility of love, joy, and renewal.
The lotus does not bloom twice because it must. It blooms twice because it can. And so can we.
