Megha Majumdar: "A Guardian and a Thief" | Oprah's Book Club
October 14, 2025
55 min
Full
47 of 82
October 14, 2025
Megha Majumdar: "A Guardian and a Thief" | Oprah's Book Club
0:00 / 55:08
Excerpt playback isn’t available for this episode — use the full-episode link.
Search the Record
Moment search isn’t open for this episode yet
When it opens, you’ll be able to type any phrase and jump straight to the second it was said.
Oprah Episodes Around October 14, 2025
Episode 47 of 82 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
1:15:10Oprah & Comedian Leanne Morgan: It's Never Too Late to Make Your Dreams Come True
55:08This episodeMegha Majumdar: "A Guardian and a Thief" | Oprah's Book Club
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:
TikTok
Listen to the full podcast:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
#oprahsbookclub
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episode details and artwork are published by the show’s own feed. Sentinel plays short cited excerpts and links every episode back to its publisher.