Someone Else's Garden by Dipika Rai
By Gopalpur standards, she is already an old woman, her younger sister was married before her. She looked after all her brothers and sisters and she's still at home. Without the borrowed money, no one would have taken her. What kind of man accepts a woman, almost in her twenties, with a birthmark? It has to be a desperate man.
About Dipika Rai
One of four children, Dipika Rai was born and educated in India. Her gypsy spirit was cultivated at a young age when she travelled throughout the country in a trusty Ambassador with her family, bumping into all sorts of characters: river pirates, princesses, tribal elders, poachers and petty politicians. After securing an MBA and doing time in the corporate world of banking, she returned to her subliminal love: writing. She moved to Bali, freelanced for 30 magazines around the globe and had a marvellous time exploring both her creative energies and new cultures. Once her children were born, it was time to stay at home. Unable to relinquish the gypsy in her, she continued to wander, but this time in a world at her desk. This world and the people in it came together to form her first novel Someone Else’s Garden.Learn more about Dipika at her website, and follow her on Facebook.
My thoughts:
I think the first thing that caught my attention with this book, was the cover, it's stunning and it makes you want to sink into a big chair with a cup of coffee and just dive right in.
From the get go, the author had my attention, the story begins with Mamta's mom going into labor and I was quickly thrown into the Indian customs and the descriptive way the author pulls you right into the story.
I've always loved reading and being educated at the same time, and this book definitely provides both entertainment and history, it made me smile, it made me cringe and it made me aware of how different other cultures are. Females have pretty much no rights at all as the main character in the story Mamta, is sold into marriage and her kidneys and other organs become property of her husband. Mamta ends up leaving her husband and getting a job, and though she's sending money home to her family her mother considers her dead, she does end up falling in love with someone else.
It was a good book, I enjoyed reading it, like I said there were some parts that were hard but only because I could never imagine living in the conditions that some of these people live and I could never imagine not being able to pick my own husband. While some may find the book actually depressing and gloomy at times, I quite enjoyed it, I took it for what it was, an entertaining, interesting read.
Thank you to TLC for providing a copy for this review, all thoughts and opinions are mine alone.
