Lalita was born in Berkeley, California and became a VP and General Manager at a Fortune 500 high technology company in Silicon until she left to she write a novel based on the lives of four generations of colored Creole slave women in Louisiana, women from whom she descended. Cane River was an Oprah Winfrey Book Club selection in the summer of 2001. The follow-up Red River was published in January 2007 by Warner Books.