English is my third language... but that has not prevent me from enjoying James Joyce, William Faulkner, Toni Morrison or H D Thoureau ... It has not prevented me from enjoying Anita Damant, Arundhiti Roy Khaled Hosseini or Elizabeth Gilbert... but, try as might, I canNOT bring myself to understand or appreciate The Saffron Kitchen. The story itself is very interesting... but the author has her fingerprint all over which I find it distracting and rather annoying... Much of the dialogues, especially between the young Saaed and Sara are not believable. The plot is weak and it was really hard to "get to know" the characters.