Megha Majumdar: "A Guardian and a Thief" | Oprah's Book Club

The Oprah Podcast

Harpo

Society & Culture

4.2 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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? 00:32:00 - What motivates us to do the right thing 00:39:30 - Confronting contradictions in her book 00:40:45 - Megha’s story of America 00:42:23 - Did Megha always know the ending? 00:47:28 - When writing became her career Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@Oprah?sub_confirmation=1 Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: Instagram Facebook TikTok Listen to the full podcast: Spotify Apple Podcasts #oprahsbookclub Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Meika Majanga!
0:04.0	You were one of my best phone calls ever, because forever you didn't believe me, right?
0:10.0	I didn't.
0:11.0	No.
0:12.0	I thought it was somebody from the publisher who was pranking me.
0:17.0	I could tell. And then you said something that was so moving to me.
0:20.0	In the middle of the conversation, you just go, what a wild thing to happen in a day.
0:27.2	It was just an arrival from outside the context of my life.
0:35.7	Hi there, everybody.
0:36.7	I am so thrilled to be together with all of you. Listeners, watchers, and readers here at a Starbucks cafe in New York City.
0:45.4	Thank you for Oprah's book club presented by Starbucks. And as always, Starbucks pairs each one of my new book club selections with a special handcrafted
0:56.1	drink. This month, it's an iced banana cream protein macha. It is new and it's delicious. Everybody
1:06.9	says it is made with the Starbucks cold foam that you know and love.
1:11.7	And now with a high protein boost.
1:14.1	So Starbucks is the place to come together with good coffee, with good company, and a good book.
1:19.7	And my new book club selection is a guardian and a thief by Mika Majumdar.
1:27.0	Now, it is the 119th book club I've selected it,
1:31.9	and it's an excru...
1:33.0	I'm telling you, this woman can write.
1:35.9	It is, isn't it?
1:37.2	Yes.
1:37.9	Yes, it is exquisitely written,
	...

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