A Quiet Dissonance Review

 Home. Is it a place or a feeling?

When Anu and her family move to a small village in the English countryside, she is desperate to put down roots in her new community. To her dismay, not everyone is welcoming. Is it her? Must she change to fit in?

In her quest for answers, she sets out to peel back the layers of her life, examining all that has made her who she is. Truth, she finds, is often uncomfortable and unpalatable. And rarely provides answers.

At a crossroads, Anu needs to determine which is the right path for her — acceptance from within or without?

Young mother Anu has always felt like an outsider. Moving away from her own family in India where her mother and half-siblings ignored her, and into a new life in England, this feeling continues in a variety of ways, in particular, a distinct disconnect from the other mothers — and women in general — that she sees all around her. While her husband Ravi seems to be getting on quite well with his work colleagues and other friends from all backgrounds.

Among the British mothers, her shyness limits her from nourishing friendships, yet she is too westernised to fit in amongst the Indian women and their cliques/friendship groups and any extended family she has she harbours resentment for based on past issues.

As her daughter Neha grows older and matures through school the plot traces Anu’s own development as she tries many different friendships as she struggles to find her people both as a woman and as a mother.

This is a beautifully written novel and I imagine it will resonate with a lot of readers for several different reasons. For me it resonated as I often struggled to find friendships and the ones that I cherish the most are ones that were found in later life. The author totally encapsulated how it must feel to be a migrant in a new country and the concerns and hurdles that they have to overcome just to fit in and be a part of society in ways that – I am ashamed to say – I may not have thought about before. It was very reminiscent to me of Brink Lane and Big Little Lies both are books that I adored.

The book had a lot of characters that the reader had to keep up with and although this took nothing away from the novel sometimes it took me a second to locate which character was being spoken about at that time.

This is a 5 star read for sure and I couldn’t recommend it enough to anyone.

The Water Garden Review

I received an ARC of The Water Garden by Louise Soraya Black through Netgalley so extended thanks to the Author, Publishers and Netgalley for allowing me a copy in return for an honest review.

Sarah has given up her career and moved to the countryside to bring up her two young children, while her husband works long hours in London. Alone, she explores the fields and the woods near her home and discovers a lake, a memorial bench for a boy who drowned in mysterious circumstances, and Finn, a beautiful troubled teenager who plays truant from school. As Sarah pieces the mystery together, an uncomfortable attraction between Sarah and Finn builds. She knows that this blossoming relationship is wrong but the chemistry between them is difficult to resist. Their relationship reaches a climax over one hot summer, threatening to destroy everything that she holds dear.

Intertwined within Sarah’s story are the voices of two other women connected to her family – Maggie, the RAF nurse, and Flavia, the Italian girl. As their stories unfold, a secret is revealed, binding Sarah and Finn in a way that they would never guess.

The Water Garden is about family secrets, guilt, and redemption. It tells the story of a 30-year-old full-time mother who becomes attracted to a troubled teenage boy. The novel looks at the challenges of balancing a woman’s loyalty towards, and love for, her family, with her loyalty to herself. It considers motherhood in an interestingly unique way, exploring it in extreme circumstances. The story is sometimes uncomfortable to read – and is meant to be, challenging social norms and expectations.

The characters are relatable and loveable and the story is beautifully written with descriptions really evoking the British countryside, landscapes and the quintessential English garden with a lovely heart-warming approach to family love woven into the narrative.

A solid 4 star read