2011 February 07

Teaser Tuesday-Indefensible

Monday 7 February, 2011 by knittingmomof3 88 Comments

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

“In Kate’s half doze, the ringing phone morphed into an elevator chime. She bolted up in bed, her heart frantically trying to flee.”

Page 116, Indefensible by Pamela Callow

What are you reading?

Book Review: The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton

Monday 7 February, 2011 by knittingmomof3 10 Comments

Title: The Tapestry of Love
Author: Rosy Thornton
Publisher: Headline Book Publishing
Publication Date: October 14, 2010
Paperback: 352 pages
ISBN: 9978-0755345571
Genre: Literary Fiction

From the Publisher:

A warm and uplifting story of how a woman falls in love with a place and its people: a landscape, a community and a fragile way of life.

A rural idyll: that’s what Catherine is seeking when she sells her house in England and moves to a tiny hamlet in the Cévennes mountains. With her divorce in the past and her children grown, she is free to make a new start, and her dream is to set up in business as a seamstress. But this is a harsh and lonely place when you’re no longer just here on holiday. There is French bureaucracy to contend with, not to mention the mountain weather, and the reserve of her neighbours, including the intriguing Patrick Castagnol. And that’s before the arrival of Catherine’s sister, Bryony…

My Review:

Beautiful, heart warming, and utterly charming, The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton tells the story of Catherine Parkstone, a divorced mother of two grown children trying to discover just who she is and where she belongs. Catherine sells her home in England and moves to a small village in the Cévennes Mountains. While in France she sets up a business and begins to look forward to this fresh start, yet as with life in general, it is not all easy going. Thornton expertly takes to reader to the Cévennes region and deep into forty-eight-year-old Catherine’s life. With exquisite attention to detail, Thornton draws the reader into the story and I found myself quite intrigued with both the major and minor characters of the story, especially Catherine, Patrick, and Bryony, each in their own way. I believe The Tapestry of Love is a book to slowly savour and one well worth reading. Thornton slowly and rather deliberately shows how Catherine grows even beyond what she initially had hoped and planned for in her life, it was beautiful to read about and quite inspiring, especially considering the main character is a woman who is not too much unlike myself in respect to age and children. Thornton shows the reader that middle age is not to be dreaded as some people think and those who are considered middle age can still love, have hopes, dreams, and desires that need to be fulfilled. Through use of exquisite detail, Thornton not only describes the mountains, the countryside, the beautiful tapestries, but also the intricate nature of human beings. I adored Catherine and found strength from her character. I would not hesitate to recommend The Tapestry of Love to any reader and think it would make a fabulous book discussion group pick.

About the Author:

Rosy Thornton teaches at Cambridge University. She lives in a village nearby with her partner and their two daughters.

I received a complimentary copy of The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton from the author to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: Headline Book Publishing, Literary Fiction

Book Review: Someone Else’s Garden by Dipika Rai

Monday 7 February, 2011 by knittingmomof3 16 Comments

Title: Someone Else’s Garden
Author:Dipika Rai
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Original edition
Publication Date: February 1, 2011
Paperback: 400 pages
ISBN: 978-0062000354
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

The eldest of seven children, born low-caste and female in rural India, Mamta is abused and rejected by a father who can see no reason to “water someone else’s garden” until a husband is found for her. Seeking escape in matrimony, Mamta begins her wedded life with hope—but is soon forced to flee her village and the horrors of her arranged marriage to the bustle of a small city. Saved from becoming one of the nameless and faceless millions of rejected humanity by the salvation of sublime love, Mamta struggles to find a precarious state of acceptance and make peace with her past.

Powerfully affecting and uplifting, set against a vivid and colorful background of Eastern life, Dipika Rai’s Someone Else’s Garden transcends geographical divides and cultural chasms to brilliantly expose the commonality of the human condition, compelling us to seek answers within ourselves to humanity’s eternal questions: Is life random? Do we have a destiny?

My Review:

There are a few books I come across where I am certain my review will not do justice to the book and Someone Else’s Garden by Dipika Rai is just such a book. Rai draws the reader immediately into the lives of a poor family, one born low-caste in rural India and the reader is spared no details about what the lives of the multigenerational characters such as Lata Bai, Mamta and Rani, are like. While the narrative is at times quite depressing, the message behind the beautifully flowing narrative is one of strength, hope, and power, which the women have in abundance. Someone Else’s Garden is more than a story of low-caste women and the lives they have to look forward to, but one of hope, and ultimately is an exceptionally uplifting novel which transcends all cultures. Rai’s prose is so exquisite one can easily become lost in the beauty and flow of her words, descriptions, and characters. Rai’s novel brings up many deep and intricate questions about life and one’s purpose in life, making this an extraordinary book for any discussion group. Someone Else’s Garden is not an easy book to read, it is painful yet offers hope, it is deep and offers up ways to help. The reader is given a glimpse into a society where women are bought and sold, where even their bodies do not belong to them and yet there is an ever present underlying theme of hope. I am exceedingly grateful to have read Someone Else’s Garden, I have a newfound appreciation of life and learned about another NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) Pratham, a programme to provide quality education to underprivileged children in India, a programme to which Rai is donating a proceed of the royalties of this book. I cannot praise Someone Else’s Garden enough and it is my hope that all readers will choose to read this book and share it with others and discussion groups. I personally cannot wait to see what Dipika Rai has in store for her next book.

About the Author:

Dipika Rai was born, raised, and educated in India. She worked as a freelance journalist for many years, writing for various publications around the globe. She divides her time between India and the island of Bali, where she lives with her husband, two children, and her devoted pets. This is her first novel.

Visit Dipika Rai’s website.
Follow Dipika Rai on Facebook.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of Someone Else’s Garden by Dipika Rai from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.