Human Nature Under Extreme Pressure

Audience question prompts Megha to reflect on how crisis reveals truer selves and moral boundaries under scarcity.

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In this episode of Oprah’s Book Club: Presented by Starbucks, Oprah and Megha Majumdar discuss her magnificent new book, A Guardian and a Thief, a 2025 National Book Awards finalist and Oprah’s 119th Book Club selection. This exquisitely written novel packs an epic story into just 224 pages. From page one to the jaw-dropping conclusion, readers are immersed in a harrowing journey as two families, on a collision course in Kolkata, India, face the consequences and moral implications of their life-and-death choices. Megha’s evocative, beautifully crafted exploration of our changing world sparked a lively and thoughtful conversation among readers at a Starbucks coffeehouse in New York City. Starbucks' delectable drink pairing for this book is an Iced Banana Cream Protein Matcha.

BUY THE BOOK!

A Guardian and a Thief, published by Penguin Random House and written by Megha Majumdar, is available wherever books are sold.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/798984/a-guardian-and-a-thief-by-megha-majumdar/

00:00:00 - Welcome Megha Majumdar, author of “A Guardian and a Thief”

00:01:56 - Oprah describes “A Guardian and a Thief”

00:03:28 - Oprah’s daughter-girl Thando shares her take

00:05:15 - The plot

00:09:08 - Writing about famine

00:13:20 - A writer’s relationship to failing

00:16:20 - Each character sees America differently

00:22:30 - Is everyone both a guardian and a thief?

00:25:50 - How would you act under great pressure?