Blog tour: Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

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Welcome to the blog tour for Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran!

More about the book…

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.

More 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.

My impressions…

First of all… wow. Just wow! I knew I wanted to read this book at first sight as I instantly fell in love with the cover and the title. I expected a light-hearted read but a closer look at the synopsis promised something deeper. Little did I know that I was about to embark on a journey that would take me to present-day Australia, where Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home is to be found, and war-torn Sri Linka, where the home’s founders come from. The themes addressed are many, with racism, displacement, trauma and family being only a few of them. The story, which – as I mentioned before – alternates between the present and the past, is narrated by five different characters, one more unforgettable than the other. Everything just comes together so effortlessly but I imagine it took the author a lot of work to give this impression. Amazing storytelling!

Three words to describe it. Beautiful. Powerful. Unforgettable.

Do I like the cover? It’s gorgeous. It was love at first sight!

Have I read any other books by the same author? No, but I’d like to.

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