Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran
$7.99
Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens
- By: Shankari Chandran
- Narrated by: Rachael Tidd
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction
Publisher's Summary
WINNER OF THE MILES FRANKLIN AWARD
Welcome to Cinnamon Gardens, a home for those who are lost and the stories they treasure.
Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home is nestled in the quiet suburb of Westgrove, Sydney—populated with residents with colourful histories, each with their own secrets, triumphs and failings. This is their safe place, an oasis of familiar delights—a beautiful garden, a busy kitchen and a bountiful recreation schedule.
But this ordinary neighbourhood is not without its prejudices. The serenity of Cinnamon Gardens is threatened by malignant forces more interested in what makes this refuge different rather than embracing the calm companionship that makes this place home to so many. As those who challenge the residents’ existence make their stand against the nursing home with devastating consequences, our characters are forced to reckon with a country divided.
Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is about family and memory, community and race, but is ultimately a love letter to storytelling and how our stories shape who we are.
‘An engrossing, urgent, warm, wise and utterly, utterly beautiful novel.’ Emily Maguire, bestselling 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
©2021 Shankari Chandran (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd & Ultimo Press
Hema
Brilliant
Written by Australian author, Shankari Chandran, this is a book everyone should read! Set within the Hindu Tamil community of Sydney, this novel transcends its pages in telling the stories of some of the lives of the residents living at the Cinnamon Garden Nursing Home, and of the people who dedicate themselves to caring for them – it could be any community anywhere with a colonial history of having been conquered and exploited and controlled. It’s relevance is more urgent than ever in a world aching to be seen and felt with more compassion, more empathy, more humanity. I feel this book is important on several levels, one of those being how it addresses the issue of racism in Australia without apology or a “happily-ever-after” Hollywood ending. Another important part of the book, is it’s telling of the history of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, and the civil war fought between 1983 and 2009. Though this part of the book is not written about extensively (it’s not a historical text, afterall), it imparts a good deal of knowledge about the horrors perpetrated against the Tamil people.
Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is a beautifully written novel about love, loyalty, betrayal, survival, community, connection, and the stories we collect throughout our lives – stories that create our history.
I look forward to reading much more from this gifted author. Her’s is a voice much needed in our country!
13 people found this helpful
Tracy
Powerful, important, relevant, moving!
Amazing, moving story that made
me weep and mourn, rage and regret, love and rejoice. Beautifully rendered characters and places woven into a complex and evocative story of history, love, memories and family, unashamedly poking painfully at some uncomfortable realities of Australian attitudes to migrants. I loved it and think everyone should read it! I want to move into the Cinnamon Gardens nursing home. ❤
Narration was perfect.
3 people found this helpful