Gianni, it is the "Mistress of Spices", and the book has just been made into a movie starring beauty queen Aishwarya Rai - earning mostly dissatisfied reviews if that is anything to you at all
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I have read the book and liked it, but it is definitely not one of my absolute favorites. It is very mythical/mystical and doesn't come with conventional storytelling, instead of that you get a sometimes nebulous fairy tale of a woman who has an esoteric connection with the spices and is sent to the USA to let people experience the healing powers of her substances. Tilo, the woman, does magic with her spices, and she has been trained to do so on a mysterious island by powerful serpents. You get to know about her birthplace and the time on the island, but as far as I remember the story is mostly set in the spice shop in California because Tilo is bound to it. When she meets an American and falls in love, she will have to face serious consequences...
Prepare for the slow pacing of the story as the author concentrates on Tilo's inner life a lot, especially on Tilo's observations concerning her customers who are often enough immigrants.
The book is poetic indeed and combines ancient myth with the real world, and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to dive into Tilo's world and appreciates the quiet and soothing atmosphere.
Lately when I saw a trailer of the movie it occured to me that there might be quite a few parallels between "Chocolat" and this story, "Chocolat" being the more vivid and joyful story of these two. "The Mistress of Spices" seemed like a different world altogether to me.
Whatever you finally choose to read on the trip, have a great journey, Gianni, and come back with lots of stories and pictures!
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