"Gorgeous and ambitious! Temple Dancer is an unforgettable novel about a woman's search for peace--and another's desire for justice, fleshed out with rich psychological descriptions that evoke the very different cultures they live in." Foreword Reviews

On a crowded train in southern India, a mysterious encounter between two women-one an older elegant Indian, the other a young American artist-leads to the exchange of a dusty red book, and an appeal: You must show the world how we danced with God! Years later, on reading the lost diary, Wendy is transported on an unforgettable journey into the ancient and erotic world of the revered devadasi, a world of dance and devotion, music and mysticism, restraint and release, shame and disgrace. The diary opens a connection across time and space between two parallel lives that include affairs of the spirit and the flesh manifest through sacred practices, through the making of art, the making of love, and most of all through love itself.

Author Amy Weintraub takes readers on a richly atmospheric journey deep into the history and magic of female sacred sexuality and spiritual transcendence. The tragic yet triumphant stories of both women are enriched by vibrant yoga philosophy and the divine enigma that entwines the lives of two unlikely souls.