Uma Sinha

As the protagonist of One Amazing Thing, the novel opens and ends with the narrator inhabiting Uma Sinha's perspective. Uma is a young graduate student studying literature who visits the consulate office to renew her visa before traveling to India to visit her parents. Her parents have relocated back to their native country from America, in hopes of living an easier life. When she was younger, she strove to get as far away from them as possible, but she now finds that she misses her family and wishes they had not moved so far away. Locked in the basement of the consulate building, she longs to see her boyfriend Ramon, who she believes loves her completely.

When the earthquake strikes, Uma is flung across the room and shatters her wrist. Cameron comes to her aid and helps to properly bandage the wound. Later, their roles reverse, and...