The book just sucked me into the pages - the lovely descriptions of India and Hindu practices and ceremonies just made me feel like I had stepped into another world. I think this may be one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. What a wonderful delightful surprise when I started reading it. I honestly would not normally pick this kind of book but it was a monthly freebie and I like to read a wide range of books. It’s a good book which is well worth reading and I’m glad I read something different from my usual genre. I really liked the Hindu customs which are so well explained and I liked and admired the characters. Ravi and his family were luckier than many thanks to Amisha. All societies have things that others do not always understand. How Amisha suffered at the end of her life was also shocking but has to be placed in the culture and perceived wisdom of the time and so it’s wrong to judge. The book describes India past and present beautifully as well as its customs, some of which seem harsh to westerners such the caste system and the fate of the untouchables. The book ended on an optimistic note both for Ravi and his family and for Jaya. Jaya learns so much from Ravi about herself and her grandmother and the storytelling allows her to show compassion and understanding to her mother. Their feelings grow for each other and you can work the rest out!!! Sadly, Amisha died shortly after giving birth to Lena and she is raised by a cruel and hard hearted stepmother Omi. She wishes to learn to write in English and in return for teaching some storytelling lessons Stephen agrees to teach her. Amisha meets Stephen, an army Lieutenant who runs a local school. Her husband Deepak tolerates her ways to an extent and she is lucky too in that he was frequently away on business which allowed her more latitude than many other in her position. Amisha is independent of thought, very creative as she’s the storyteller, unique in that she insists that an untouchable Ravi become her servant against custom, she tries to be subservient as is expected of her but it does not come easy. It centres around the 30’s and 40’s and I really did enjoy the historical background with the advent of world war and the rise of Indian desire to break free of colonial shackles led by Gandhi. Amisha was a woman before her time, a square peg in a round hole during the last years of the Raj. The unfolding story of Amisha is a bold one and helps to explain why Lena is as she is. Lena refuses and will not explain why so Jaya sets off to India to try to learn why. The family receive a letter informing them that the father is dying and requests that Lena return to India. Her mother Lena is remote and hard to reach emotionally and perhaps that is linked to the fact that on her marriage her father told her that she was to leave India and never come back. Jaya’s parents came to the USA from India on their marriage. Her marriage to Patrick fell apart under the psychological and physical strain. Jaya has suffered several miscarriages and from a health perspective cannot try again. The story is told of grandmother Amisha in India and granddaughter Jaya who is American. This is a beautifully written story which I liked and enjoyed but I can’t say I absolutely loved it and I can’t put my finger on why. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Third parties use cookies for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalised ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. If you agree, we’ll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice.
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