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ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Anji runs the nursing home, Cinnamon Gardens, that her 80-year-old mother Maya technically owns in one of Sydney's western suburbs. It is a caring place, and though there are hierarchies amongst the multi-cultural residents, they are a cohesive and vibrant community. While it is exactly the sort of place you would want your elderly relatives to live out the last of their days, there are problems - money, staff and worst of all, community. When the home, and one of the staff in particular, is targeted by vile racists, it is the catalyst for devastating developments…
The story weaves backwards and forwards in time, with shifting viewpoints and complicated relationships. It takes in the appallingly tragic consequences of the civil war in Sri Lanka - some of the most affecting parts of the novel show the horrors that occurred there, and the dreadful choices people had to make. Despite an innocuous title that suggests a feel-good story, this is a strong and powerful novel that deals with a multitude of themes - our treatment of the elderly, of refugees and migrants, and the bonds that make families, and the stresses that destroy relationships - and the damage politicians (and the media that report their actions) can inflict without thought and with unlooked-for consequences. Well worth reading, and thinking about... Lindy
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.
'Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is a lyrical, stirring, accomplished exploration of the trauma we carry, the secrets we keep, the histories we harbour, and the family we find. Chandran's characters are so vividly drawn you can sense them sitting across the table long after you've closed the covers. Deftly traversing time, culture and continent to weave a tale of both home and unbelonging, this is truly a novel not to be missed.' -- Maxine Beneba Clarke, author of Foreign Soil and The Hate Race 'This is an engaging story that feels both urgent and necessary. It is also a terrific read.' * The Daily Telegraph * 'a powerful, compassionate novel about friendship, family, community-building, and the racism faced by members of diasporic communities in this country.' * The Au Review * 'this story burns with anger and sings with optimism, sprinkled through with moments of levity and humour.' * The Canberra Times * An engrossing, urgent, warm, wise and utterly, utterly beautiful novel. * Emily Maguire, author of An Isolated Incident and Love Objects * 'Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens filled this reviewer's heart with both hope and rage at witnessing history repeat itself, while somehow preserving optimism about how communities can be rebuilt.' * Books + Publishing * 'Chandran is an excellent storyteller.' * The Weekend Australian * 'Chandran's novel has serious heft, spanning several timelines and tackling complex topics like race, trauma and the structural inequality engendered in so-called multicultural Australia.' * The Guardian * 'Wise and dignified.' * The Australian Women's Weekly *
