#BlogTour: Chai Time At Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran @ultimopress @RandomTTours #ChaiTimeAtCinnamonGardens #ShankariChandran #RandomThingsTours

Book Synopsis:

Welcome to Cinnamon Gardens, a home for those who are lost and the stories they treasure.

Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home is nestled in the quiet suburb of Westgrove, Sydney – populated with residents with colourful histories, each with their own secrets, triumphs and failings. This is their safe place, an oasis of familiar delights – a beautiful garden, a busy kitchen and a bountiful recreation schedule.

But this ordinary neighbourhood is not without its prejudices. The serenity of Cinnamon Gardens is threatened by malignant forces more interested in what makes this refuge different rather than embracing the calm companionship that makes this place home to so many. As those who challenge the residents’ existence make their stand against the nursing home with devastating consequences, our characters are forced to reckon with a country divided.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is about family and memory, community and race, but is ultimately a love letter to storytelling and how our stories shape who we are.

My Review:

Chai Time At Cinnamon Gardens is a beautifully written, heartbreaking and powerful read that will stay with me for a long time.

Firstly I absolutely loved Maya and enjoy following her throughout the book. She’s such a warm, funny character and I was immediately drawn to her after reading about her wonderful vision for Cinnamon Gardens where everyone was welcome. There are lots of very different people in Cinnamon Gardens and I enjoyed getting to know them all slowly and learning more about their pasts.

This book has a deeper side to it as a few difficult subjects are discussed within the book which I wasn’t expecting. Through a series of flashbacks we learn more about the characters experiences in the Sri Lanka civil war which I found very interesting as I didn’t know much about it before. It being war there are also some truly heartbreaking stories involved too which were very emotional to read about. I loved learning more about the Tamil culture, traditions and some of the lovely sounding food they eat. It’s made me very interested in learning more about it and I’ve bought myself a cookbook to attempt to make some othe food mention in the book. The author also discusses racism in this book and the absolutely devastating effect of can have on people.

I thought this book was fairly fast paced and there always seemed to be something happening to keep me reading. The story is told from multiple points of view which I enjoyed as it was great to get to know all of the characters individually. There are a few mysteries running throughout the story which I enjoyed trying to solve and helped keep me absorbed in the story. There is a wonderful sense of community and warmth in this story which was great to read about. I found myself wishing I could be part of this lovely nursing home as it seemed such a great place to be.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publisher for my digital copy of this book, though as you can see I also purchased my own copy as I knew it was a story I would want to share.

About The Author:

Shankari Chandran was raised in Canberra, Australia. She spent a decade in London, working as a lawyer in the social justice field. She eventually returned home to Australia, where she now lives with her husband, four children and their cavoodle puppy, Benji. In January 2017, she published her first book with Perera-Hussein, called Song of the Sun God. Her second book, The Barrier, was published in June 2017.