The Girl in The Painting by Renita D’Silva – Book Review

PUBLISHERS BLURB

Discover the secret of the girl in the painting today.

India, 1926: English Margaret arrives with her new husband Suraj at his family home, set amidst beautiful rolling hills, the air filled with the soft scent of spices and hibiscus flowers. Margaret is unwelcome, homesick and lonely, but her maid Archana, a young woman from an impoverished family, reminds her of her long-lost sister, a tiny glimpse of home in a faraway place.

As Margaret and Archana spend more time together, an unexpected friendship blooms. But in British India the divide between rich and poor, English and Indian, is wide, and the clash between Margaret’s modern views and the weight of tradition on Archana will lead to devastating results…

England, 2000: When Emma’s grandmother gives her a mysterious painting, and asks her to take a message of forgiveness to an old friend in India, Emma is relieved to have some time and space to make a decision about her future. But as she fulfils her grandmother’s wish, a secret kept for over seventy years is finally revealed – the story of a day spent painting by a stream full of water lilies, where a betrayal tore three lives apart forever…

Perfect for fans of Kathryn Hughes, Lucinda Riley and The Storyteller’s Secret, Renita D’Silva’s exquisite novel explores the strength it takes to do what is right, no matter the cost.

MY REVIEW

Margaret grows up in England around the time World War One began, her father joins up to fight, leaving her and her mother to cope alone.

Knowing it unsafe to stay in the family home they are determined not to leave, but then tragedy strikes when the house is destroyed in a bombing raid and only Margaret and her Sister, Winnie survive. They move to their Uncles farm, but feel in the way and unwanted.

But, Winnie then finds love and marries and Margaret decides to leave the farm and study in London….where she meets Suraj….they eventually fall in love and move to India.

More tragedy, when Suraj’s parents die in an accident and life in India is so different to that back home, the poverty, the caste system and other traditions, such as Sati, where a widow will throw herself on the funeral pyre of her husband to die….

The Girl In The Painting is a marvellous, well written and compelling book, a story of many facets, local customs, many secrets and so much tragedy and sadness. A tale of consequences and doing the right thing. Stunning.

Thank you to Bookouture for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour,  for the promotional materials and a free copy of the ebook  in exchange for my honest review.

Author Bio:

Renita D’Silva loves stories, both reading and creating them. Her short stories have been published in ‘The View from Here’, ‘Bartleby Snopes’, ‘this zine’, ‘Platinum Page’, ‘Paragraph Planet’ among others and have been nominated for the ‘Pushcart’ prize and the ‘Best of the Net’ anthology. She is the author of ‘Monsoon Memories’,’The Forgotten Daughter’, ‘The Stolen Girl’, ‘A Sister’s Promise’, ‘A Mother’s Secret’, ‘A Daughter’s Courage’, ‘Beneath An Indian Sky’.


Author Social Media Links

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/RenitaDSilvaBooks
TWITTER: @RenitaDSilva
WEBSITE: http://renitadsilva.com/
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/renita_dsilva/

Publication Day:  April 11th 2019

Buy LINKS
Amazon: https://geni.us/B07MK2TNMCSocial
Apple Books: https://tinyurl.com/yasdhyj9
Kobo: https://tinyurl.com/y9badnq5
Googleplay: https://tinyurl.com/y8ohel49

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