The novel tells the story of Gogol Ganguli, a second-generation Indian-American, who struggles with his unique name and his dual cultural identity. Born to immigrant parents from Kolkata, India, Gogol is named after the famous Russian author, Nikolai Gogol, a decision that shapes his life in unexpected ways. As he grows up, he finds himself torn between his parents' traditional Indian values and his desire to fit into mainstream American society. This internal conflict is further complicated by his relationships with women of different cultural backgrounds. The book explores themes of identity, cultural assimilation, and the immigrant experience.

The novel follows the journey of a strong-willed Indian woman who, after being widowed in a tragic explosion, reinvents herself numerous times in the face of adversity. She leaves her village in Punjab for the United States, where she navigates the complexities of immigration and identity. As she moves from Florida to Manhattan to Iowa, adopting different names and personas along the way, she confronts the challenges of assimilation and the pull of her cultural heritage, all while seeking the American Dream and striving to maintain her independence and self-worth in a rapidly changing world.

The novel follows a young Nepalese girl who lives in a poor, rural village. When her stepfather sells her into slavery in a brothel in India, she must navigate the horrors of her new life. The narrative explores her struggle for survival, her attempts to escape, and the friendships she forms with other girls in the brothel. Ultimately, the novel is a harrowing exploration of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

This novel follows the intertwined lives of three college graduates in the 1980s. The story focuses on the romantic entanglements of Madeleine Hanna, an English major who is writing her senior thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot, and her relationships with two men: Leonard Bankhead, a charismatic but troubled biology student, and Mitchell Grammaticus, a religious studies student who is in love with Madeleine. The narrative explores the complexities of love, mental illness, faith, and the relevance of the traditional marriage plot in a modern world.