Thrity Umrigar (She/Her)

Laura Watilo Blake

Thrity Umrigar is the bestselling author of nine previous novels, including "Honor," which was a Reese's Book Club Pick, as well as four picture books and a memoir. A former journalist, she has contributed to the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and others. She is currently a Distinguished University Professor of English at Case Western Reserve University. Her forthcoming novel is "Missing Sam."

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Communities: LGBTQ+, Asian American

Books:

Missing Sam

A Novel
Fiction / Literature
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
January 2026
ISBN 9781643757629
Hardcover, 320 pages

A tense and twisty story of a woman who goes missing on a morning run and her wife's determination to both find her and clear her own name--from the bestselling author of "Honor. " One night after a party, old grievances surface between married couple Aliya and Sam and the night ends badly with a heated argument. Sam goes for a run early the next morning to clear her head—and doesn’t come back. Aliya reports her wife missing, but as a gay, Muslim daughter of immigrants, she can't escape the scrutiny and suspicion of those around her. Scared and furious and feeling isolated as strangers and acquaintances alike doubt her innocence, Aliya makes one wrong choice after another. She must fight to prove her innocence in the public eye even as she is torn between her fear that Sam is dead and her desire to find and save her wife. But is safety ever truly possible for them? A provocative examination of suburban mores, "Missing Sam" captures the terror manifested in today’s political climate, and the real dangers, both physical and psychological, of being brown and queer in America. More/less

The Museum of Failures

A Novel
Fiction / Literature
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
September 2024
ISBN 9781643755434
Trade Paperback, 384 pages

From the bestselling author of "The Space Between Us" comes a powerful story about family secrets, a mother's power, and the importance of forgiveness. When Remy Wadia left India for the United States, he carried his resentment of his cold and inscrutable mother with him and has kept his distance from her. Years later, he returns to Bombay, planning to adopt a baby from a young pregnant girl—and to see his elderly mother again before it is too late. She is in the hospital, has stopped talking, and seems to have given up on life. Struck with guilt for not realizing just how ill she had become, Remy devotes himself to helping her recover and return home. But one day in her apartment he comes upon an old photograph that demands explanation. As shocking family secrets surface, Remy finds himself reevaluating his entire childhood and his relationship to his parents, just as he is on the cusp of becoming a parent himself. Can Remy learn to forgive others for their human frailties, or is he too wedded to his sorrow and anger over his parents’ long-ago decisions? Surprising, devastating, and ultimately a story of redemption and healing still possible between a mother and son, "The Museum of Failures" is a tour de force from one of our most elegant storytellers about the mixed bag of love and regret. It is also, above all, a much-needed reminder that forgiveness comes from empathy for others. More/less