Sisters of the Sari — Brenda L. Baker

Kiria is a high-powered American executive. Santoshi is a former slave living in Chennai, India. These two unlikely friends are about to dramatically change each other's lives -- along with the lives of those around them....

While vacationing in India, Kiria Langdon, the opinionated and driven CEO of a major company, meets Santoshi, a former slave who works as a cleaning lady and lives in a shelter for homeless women in Chennai. Appalled by the conditions in the shelter, Kiria becomes obsessed with the idea of building decent housing for poor workingwomen in India. Santoshi reluctantly agrees to help, even though she thinks Kiria's ideas are too crazy to succeed.

With Kiria's money and business sense and Santoshi's street smarts, the New Beginnings Women's Hostel slowly takes shape. As Kiria stumbles her way through Indian culture, Santoshi helps her appreciate its strength and beauty. Santoshi, who never realized the limitations of her life, finds herself drawn to the excitement of the world that Kiria shows her outside the shelter.

Embarking on a rich journey of personal discovery, each woman will learn invaluable lessons about herself as they forge a powerful bond of sisterhood across the barriers of language and culture -- a bond that makes anything possible.