Next up is my book review of this absolutely gorgeous book. I first reviewed this on Goodreads on the 15th September 2017.
A Daughter’s Courage by Renita D’Silva
Published: 31st May 2017
Publisher: Bookouture
Rating: 5 stars
Blurb:
How much would you sacrifice to save your family?
1929. When a passionate love affair threatens to leave Lucy in disgrace, she chooses a respectable marriage over a life of shame. With her husband, coffee plantation owner James, she travels to her new home in India, leaving her troubled past behind her.
Everything in India is new to Lucy, from the jewel-coloured fabrics to the exotic spices. When her path crosses that of Gowri, a young woman who tends the temple on the plantation’s edge, Lucy is curious to find out more about her, and the events that lead her to live in isolation from her family…
Now. With her career in shatters and her heart broken by the man she thought was her future, Kayva flees from bustling Mumbai to her hometown. A crumbling temple has been discovered in a village nearby, along with letters detailing its tragic history – desperate pleas from a young woman called Gowri.
As Kavya learns of Gowri and Lucy’s painful story, she begins to understand the terrible sacrifices that were made and the decision the two women took that changed their lives forever. Can the secrets of the past help Kavya to rebuild her life?
My Review:
A big, fat five stars from me. I absolutely adored this brilliant book, it gripped me from the first few pages and even now after finishing it has a firm grip on me. This is one book that I feel will stay with me for a long time to come.I’m fascinated by books about India, especially ones that are set in the past. I’m also a huge fan of the alternate timelines of books so all in all this book is shaping up to be an amazing read.
At first we’re introduced to completely different characters set across India and England and it took me a little while to get to grips with who was who. When I’d established that, I was in awe of Renita’s writing style and how she seamlessly drifts between the different voices of the characters. Sometimes books with different characters and timelines get confusing however at the start of each chapter we get a date and who the character is in the chapter.
I felt so much emotion whilst reading this, my heart broke into a million pieces many times throughout the book and at the end I was choking back sobs as it came to an end. I was sad to have left the little village in India, I really felt like I was there with the way Renita described the setting.
I admired all the characters in different ways – Gowri for her passion for knowledge even when her circumstances meant she had to hide her learning. Lucy for her determination to move to India and see the world. Kavya for her boldness to not be a traditional Indian female. And Sue for her love for her husband.
The chapters were all fairly short so you couldn’t get bored of one character, however the chapters were usually left so you want to read “just one more chapter” which eventually turns into the whole book!
This was my first book by Renita D’Silva and all I can say is wow, where have you been? Now I’m off to Amazon to grab all her other books!
About the Author:
I love nothing better than to lose myself in a good book. The only thing that comes close to the feeling I get when I read is when I am writing. I am the author of ‘Monsoon Memories’,’The Forgotten Daughter’,’The Stolen Girl’, ‘A Sister’s Promise’, ‘A Mother’s Secret’ and ‘A Daughter’s Courage’. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I loved writing them.
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