About the Book:
The eldest of seven children, born low-caste and female in rural India, Mamta is abused and rejected by a father who can see no reason to “water someone else’s garden” until a husband is found for her. Seeking escape in matrimony, Mamta begins her wedded life with hope—but is soon forced to flee her village and the horrors of her arranged marriage to the bustle of a small city. Saved from becoming one of the nameless and faceless millions of rejected humanity by the salvation of sublime love, Mamta struggles to find a precarious state of acceptance and make peace with her past.
Powerfully affecting and uplifting, set against a vivid and colorful background of Eastern life, Dipika Rai’s Someone Else’s Garden transcends geographical divides and cultural chasms to brilliantly expose the commonality of the human condition, compelling us to seek answers within ourselves to humanity’s eternal questions: Is life random? Do we have a destiny?
About the Author:
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.
Did you ever come across a novel that just left you in awe by the last page? Dipika Rai’s novel did that exact thing for me. Rai’s writing style not only captured me as a reader, the cultural differences and things that Rai added to this novel, were soul capturing and gut wrenching. It was filled with characters, both good and bad, that come together in a plot like no other. Rai blends the cultural differences, longing, hope, and anger and turns them into a well written, not soon forgotten novel.
Now, I will be honest here and say that at first I was confused by the scenes-didn’t really get where it was going and why, but once I pushed forward with the story, I understood the need for the slow, confusing start to Mamta’s character and her story. And what a story it was….
I know that people everywhere, have different religious views, different cultural customs, but this story really outlined what life in India is like for a young woman. I could never, in a billion years, begin to imagine being a woman and not even having the option to make a life for myself and be worth something. Poor Mamta-being sold in to a marriage and never owning her mind-it is immediately owned by her husband. This type of story, though written to be fictional, is a true eye opening experience to life in other countries and cultures. It really hit hard with me and I found myself praying for everything that this young woman Mamta had to go through as she was breaking free from someone else’s garden and finding her true self.
I encourage everyone to read this book. It’s filled with lots of cultural insights and makes the mind set to work. While it’s far from favorite novel, it does get 4 stars. The author’s talent shines through as the novel captures the readers. Well done, Dipika!
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*This book was provided for review by TLC Book Tours*
