The Girl in the Painting is another wonderfully written book. Her stories and the characters within this book have depth and grow so much.

This is an emotional tale of love, friendship, motherhood, rejection, loneliness, sacrifice and betrayal.

I really connected with a couple of the characters. I will definitley read another book by this author and I love the calming and simple cover design.

I generally like this authoress’s writing because of the emotional richness, well-thought conflicts and the overall message of hope and forgiveness she can bring, as well as her understanding of both Indian and British culture. On these front, she delivers here, too. But unfortunately, the novel is very much prolonged, so the actual conflict and the solutions and messages it can bring are only a smaller part of the quite long book. I do not regret reading it, the prose is beautiful. I only wish the real points of break could have bigger places here. Otherwise, one of the better stories I have read this year!

An amazing book which I found impossible to put down. The descriptions of Indian rural life are so vivid I felt as though all my senses were experiencing this wonderful story. I was not very sociable with my family until I had finished reading it ! I was transported to another continent and living with the characters in the book. Fabulous! It fab i recommend to uou all brill

An interesting read that I enjoyed but wasn’t overwhelmed with it. A good read for fans of historical Fiction.

Unfinished business...Margaret is dying, and there’s one thing on her mind. A message to be delivered. And her granddaughter Emma is the only person able to deliver this message. Making amends, granting forgiveness to someone from her past. Back in time, several decades...young Margaret crosses paths with young Archana. And both of their lives are changed forever.

This is such a rich, complex story with layers upon layers to be peeled back. Alternating between characters and time periods, the reader is pulled in with the desire to find out how everything comes together. Historical fiction at its finest with such rich, lush descriptions of Indian culture and tradition both past and present. An outstanding story!

This was a very interesting book indeed.

Margaret is a woman who has certainly gone through some very tough times in her life and so, as she nears the end of her life, she wants to put some old wrongs to rights. She is unable to travel so entrusts her granddaughter Emma with a painting and a message for an old friend....

I found this a very moving, fascinating and poignant story. Margaret is born into a happy, stable family but through a set of circumstances not of her making, she finds herself alone. And then she meets Suraj, who changes her life in a myriad of ways. When she goes to India, she meets Archana, whose arrival in her life causes so much upheaval, that neither of them will fully recover from it.

I loved the descriptions of India - the sights and sounds. I also found it fascinating that Archana's husband, mother and in-laws were described completely differently by Archana than they were by Margaret, the village and even the animals as well. Interesting how that cultural lens is applied!

Well worth reading and my apologies for taking so long to read it. 4.5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

This was a compelling story that switched between India in 1926 and England of 2000, it is an emotional tale of love, friendship, motherhood, rejection, loneliness, sacrifice and betrayal, I recommend to any lover of historical fiction

This is my first time to read this author, and I am impressed with the way that she describes settings and emotions with such lyrical fluidity. This book is complex, with suspense that was kicked off in the very first section. The author seamlessly weaves between an early 20th-century past in India and present-day England. The story deals with loss, choices, and forgiveness, amongst other themes. The only thing I didn't like about this book is that it is written in the present tense. I just find that a really awkward narrative tense to read; it jars me when I just want to be immersed in the story. The present tense sticks out like a sore thumb, beckoning me to acknowledge it when I just want the mechanics of language to fade into fade into the background. That said, I do appreciate this author's poetic way with words; I just wish it was in the past tense!

‘The girl in the painting … at first glance she looks happy. But her eyes, they are sad. She is young, but she has lived, suffered. And she is … what is that word I learned with you … oh yes, she’s conflicted, I think. Afraid to be happy, perhaps?’

I was excited to finally read a Renita D'Silva book and this one proved a wonderful introduction. Told in alternating time periods between three main character voices, it slowly unveils a beautiful story, one full of tragedy and grief. How much is one bound by duty or to feel a sense of recompense when perhaps it only brings heartache? How far are you willing to go to forgive?

There is much to love about this tale. Firstly, the location in India is presented here in all its glory from sights and smells, to cuisine and culture, from Bombay and further afield in rural villages. There is a huge spotlight on the age old custom of ‘sati’ and as horrifying as it may seem to modern eyes, it’s the mental aspect pertaining to it that holds the real story and the author unravels this so well. Secondly, the two main historic characters are outstanding - one Indian, one English - and both, individually and together, create a realistic portrayal of what life in times now passed. The impact of their respective upbringings, provides a clash of cultures in a truly illuminating way.

At times this book is a little slow and there is some repetition, particularly in the current day timeline. I found modern day Emma to be a rather weak but necessary link in providing the satisfactory closure at the end of this momentous tale. Overall this is a really well written story with the highlight being the two women in 1920s Bombay. The switch in voice is smooth and I found the historic tale to be more enticing which, thankfully, is where the majority of our time is spent. These characters are well developed and their individual stories will sit with you for some time afterwards.

The Girl In The Painting presents a compelling story made up of many parts - culture, family obligation, custom - all wrapped in the shroud of love and tragedy. This is a book I would most definitely recommend, particularly for those interested in Indo-British relations.

‘By not letting go of my past, being haunted by it, I have lost my present, maimed my future.’




This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Here's an author that writes with Passion, great detail and will take your breath away whilst reading her lastest book The Girl in the Painting by Renita D'Silva. Once you've read a few pages you will be hooked and will become apart of this story. Feel that you can touch things thats are in this book, breathe the air around the story.
This book will stay with you for a long time. Like all her other books, they have the same way about them and will last forever in your heart, this will be read again.

I Highly Recommend all of Renita D'Silva's books especially this one.

WoW................Just Beautiful throughout. Looking forward to her next book.

If i could give this book 10 stars I would......

Thank you NetGalley and Renita D'Silva for giving me the chance to read The Girl In The Painting and I really loved reading this book.

Beautifully written, with D'Silva's characteristic charm and dual timelines. This one, too, was heart wrenching and vivid about our free will and our actions and how they affect everyone and not just ourselves.

I love timeslip novels like this. I enjoyed the unusual setting of India which really comes to live in D'Silva's descriptions. An unusual, interesting story that I will recall for a long time.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Lovely descriptive book, picturing India well. Margaret, ailing, asks her granddaughter, Emma, to travel to India to a home she owns. A journey that will reveal a part of her grandmother's life that Emma could never have imagined. Well written and enjoyable.

"Life can change in an instant. ​It can turn you upside down, inside out."

Renita D'Silva's new book is a fantastic emotional journey spanning decades and continents. Warning: Make sure you have a packet of tissue in the vicinity... you'll need it!

The story is laid out in two time periods, the 1920s and the year 2000. Margaret and Archana, two women living on opposite sides of the world. Their lives couldn't be any more different and yet their paths will cross each other with tremendous, life-changing consequences.

In 2000, Margaret is an old frail lady living out her last days in a hospice in England. She has one last wish - the final request of a dying woman. She gives her granddaughter Emma the deeds of a house in India and a painting she had painted when she was young and asks her to travel to India and trace a woman named Archana. She wants Archana to forgive her for what she has done to her and for Archana to know that Margaret has forgiven her herself a long time ago. What has happened between these two women a very long time ago for them to need each other's forgiveness? What did they do? Emma is intrigued by this mystery. Her grandma has never mentioned any connection to India, she didn't like to talk about her past at all, and now all of a sudden she has been handed the keys to a mansion there. Emma wants to dig deep and grant her nana's last wish, but will she be able to accomplish her mission in time or is it already too late for Margaret to tie her last loose end?

No other author has the ability to evoke in me the kind of emotions the talented Renita D'Silva does with her books. She is one of my favourite authors and I have read and loved each and every one of her books. Her writing is just breathtaking, poetic, it's like music, and with each book she writes she succeeds in making me dream with my eyes open. As I'm reading one of her books, I can always almost see, feel, smell and hear everything she describes. I'm always impressed by her choice of words and swept away by her stories. She always takes me to India, a beautiful country I've never visited but at the same time feel I know well, thanks to her clear descriptions and crisp, melodic 'voice'.

'The Girl in the Painting' is a marvellous work of fiction as colourful as a rainbow and as delicious as the yummy Indian food described within its pages. It burns with desire, love and passion but make no mistake, it also harbours heartbreaking scenes of betrayal, scandal and shame, not to mention death. This book made me realise that nothing in life is safe or to be taken for granted, that everything can change in the blink of an eye. I also learned about a shocking Indian tradition that thankfully has now been banned and deemed unlawful. The author has once again created interesting lifelike characters that as a reader you can't not feel attracted to. By the end I felt as if I have known Margaret, Archana and Emma since forever and I found myself rejoicing, laughing and crying with them. Yes, I needed that packet of tissues!

A huge well done to the author for writing such a brilliant, mesmerising story and thanks to Bookouture for an ARC of this book which I voluntarily accepted to read and review. Highly, highly recommended!!

This is the first book I have read by this author and I enjoyed it. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review.

Its an historical novel that moves from England to India. Its a captivating story of love, loss the sacrifices we make, betrayal , and courage to overcome adversities and the trials and tribulations of love and loss. We follow the characters Margaret and her maid Archana, who reminds Margaret of her beloved sister who died.

I was immediately drawn to the characters, and was forewarned that this story would be engrossing by the author's ability to draw you into to the characters lives and events.The book shifts seamlessly from 1926 England to India 2000. I look forward to reading her other books.

When Renita D’Silva writes about India, it comes alive on the page. Her books are dual timeline family mysteries combining a modern day narrator with historical events set in India. With her latest, The Girl in the Painting, D’Silva tackles guilt, forgiveness and sati – when a husband dies, his widow burns with his body on the funeral pyre. It is her emotionally toughest novel yet and handled with sensitivity and balance.
This is the story of three women – Margaret, Archana and Emma – pre-Great War in England, India in 1918 and England 2000. At the beginning, each woman is introduced in short chapters which made me long to dwell a while with each in turn, rather than jumping around. I was puzzled at how these three women, so different from each other, could be connected. Each has a deep sense of duty that, despite a longing to make her own decisions, is an anchor to a sometimes unwelcome, difficult, reality. Yet being impulsive and taking decisions without consideration for others often has far-reaching consequences. The early 20th century was a pivotal time in world history and a period of rapid change in the lives of women. Margaret’s family is separated tragically by war, Archana’s by impulsive love; both separations deeply affect these two young girls and reverberate throughout their whole lives. It is Emma in modern-day England who faces a moral and emotional decision of her own, who travels to India with her daughter to cast light on the story.
The emotional connection really kicked in for me when Margaret and Archana meet at the halfway point in the book. From that point, I didn’t want to put the book down. The parallel struggles in Margaret and Archana’s early lives, even though thousands of miles apart, demonstrate the commonality of being human. Tragedy does not strike the undeserving, the old, the unlikeable, the lazy; it strikes everyone without selection. But D’Silva’s story is not about tragedy; it is about what comes next, about taking a deep breath and moving forward.
There is an evocative portrayal of Archana’s village life, the daily grind of poverty juxtaposed with the fertility of flowers and fruits, exotic colours and birds; and the picture of slum children in Bombay who live beside the railway tracks. Neither is romanticised. I also enjoyed Margaret’s time as an artist and her transition to India, using her art as a promotional tool in the fight for Independence. The story covers a lot of history and there were times when I would have liked to immerse myself in a period, but the characters move onwards.
Given the title, The Girl in the Painting, I assumed the front cover design was of the specific painting. In fact there are a number of portraits in the novel and in my imagination none looks like the cover. So I prefer to think it is a portrait of Margaret in the garden at Charleston, welcomed by the Bloomsbury Group, free to allow her art to flourish, free to allow love to walk in the door and surprise her.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

Quite possibly one of the best historical books I've read so far this year!
I LOVED this book. It was so hard to put down. I wanted to keep reading it til the end but yet I didn't want the end to come. You spend so much time with these characters they feel like family. You know their thoughts before they think them.
Starting out in early twentieth century London and India to 2000. So it is a bit of a time travel but most of the book is spent in the past. My heart is hurting for these characters . The ultimate betrayal changes more lives than two. Heartbreaking for sure but this book was so fascinating.
Emma must go to India for her grandmother, Margaret who moved there from London during the early 1900's to marry the Indian man she met in London. Going to India was a huge culture change for Margaret. I could very easily picture myself in India from the descriptions, the food,homes,the overwhelming poverty and the absolute dislike of the white woman marrying the Indian man especially since his parents arranged for him to be married to another Indian woman and he goes against it to pick his own bride that is not one of their own.
There is much celebration when she falls pregnant and her husband is so looking forward to their child. In India, Archana plays a huge role in Margaret's life and she has her own story as well that intertwines greatly with Margaret's. Such tragedy and sadness in both of their lives but yet hope,forgiveness and redemption in this book. This book reads like one of those fabulous miniseries, after all it is 498 pages so it has a lot of material to cover. So many emotions at work here. You'll run through all of them with this book so do have the tissues ready.
This is my first read by this author and I already can't wait to dive into another by her.
Publication Date: April 11, 2019.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. Thank you. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is the second book of Renita D’Silva that I read after ‘Beneath an Indian Sky’ which I really liked. It had strong characters you would remember the book by, and this is true for ‘The Girl in the Painting’ as well. Margaret and Archana will stay with you, well after you have finished reading the book.

The book shuffles between two separate timelines – one in the early 20th century and the other in the early 21st century. Margaret, is old and ill, now in hospice care. She asks her grand-daughter Emma to visit a property she owns in India and meet with Archana. She is to deliver a message to her saying she understands why she did what she did and has forgiven her, and also has regrets for what she did long back as well.

In the early 20th century, Radha and Archana are sisters who grow up in poverty. Their difficulties increase even more when Radha chooses to marry a person of a lower caste, and their father passes away suddenly. Their family is ostracised, and Radha’s choice does not work out either as her husband is completely irresponsible. Archana gets married to a person many years older than her.
This is a community where Sati (the practice of a wife ending her life when her husband dies, as part of the funeral pyre) is practiced, and this fear preys on Archana’s mind. The two social ills – casteism/untouchability and Sati find key mentions but feel forced fitted into the story. The untouchability and Radha’s life have no background feeding to it and is also largely left off after the initial focus (and Sati which is surmised to have started during invasions of the country, was not prominent during the early 20th century).

At around the same time in England, Margaret and Winnie lose their family including their sister Evie to a fire. They have to move in with their uncle, aunt and cousins. The story centers around Margaret, and how she tries to move on with life, taking solace in pursuing arts. She falls in love with Suraj who wants to move back to India, as he finds the racism prevalent to be exhausting. In India, Margaret now runs into Archana who is one of her maids. The two of them bond instantly and Archana reminds Margaret of her sister Evie.

In stories with a background like this, the impact would have been stronger if the experiences of the characters lead to their evolving development & growth, that of the community, and as a result this would have made the story grow too. However, much of that reflection is left entirely to the end.

I love Renita’s writing and the strong characters her stories feature. I hope to read more of her work soon. I would recommend this book for the characters - Margaret & Archana.

My rating: 3.25 / 5.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

This was a wonderful read for a beautiful rainy spring weekend. I really enjoyed the storyline, the way it was told, and the history behind it. The characters in the book were very heartwarming and honest. I really enjoyed the dual timeline storyline and the way it was revealed to us to tell the story about Margaret and her family and Archana and her family; I enjoyed how Emma’s story brought the two stories together and gave them a very satisfying ending. I had never heard about sati before and I found it an archaic and brabaric practice, but on the other hand, I can see how it would be seen as the ultimate form of devotion and sacrifice, not only for herself but her family and her village. After reading this book, I researched sati and found it a very interesting topic. I loved learning something new.

It was a very emotional story that left me thinking about it long after I read it. A story of family and friendship, of love and betrayal, of forgiveness and honour. As I read the book, I could picture in my mind the places and the sights.The author did a wonderful job of conveying where this book was written and the time that it was written. The sounds and smells of this book were almost tangible.

I will definitely be reading more books by this author, I really loved this one.

First off, I would like to thank the author for writing a story about Indian culture and history. I did not know much about it but the author explained a lot of things to me that I wouldn’t have understood if she had not explained it so beautifully and well. I enjoyed reading about a couple that was separated by race, ethnicity, and culture. The author showed the struggles that both Margaret and her love interest endured due to coming from different cultures and restrictions felt in their own cultures based on a social hierarchy. I found Margaret’s story more interesting than Emma’s and wish there had been more of Emma’s story so that I would feel as attached to her as I did for Margaret. I cared more for what had happened in Margaret’s life than what was presently happening in Emma’s.

The first half of the book was slower and I had to push through it a bit until I could not put it down. There were a lot of beautiful descriptions, but I felt that some of them were too long and did not contribute much to the story. I felt that there was a lot of repetitive paragraphs that had just been said a couple of pages prior so they were still in my mind and not forgotten. I would say that this book could be condensed a bit while not taking away from the actual story. I would recommend this book if you want a unique ending while also learning about Indian culture.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.