This book was moving and emotion filled, telling the story of two women, and the impact of the times on their lives. Alice is British, daughter of a colonial couple living in India prior to Indian independence. Due to circumstances, Alice became attached to her Indian Ayah, or nanny, and her son Raju. As Alice gets older, used to getting everything she wants except her parents’ love, complications arise from the separation of Indians and the British they served. Janaki is an orphan, left with nuns to raise her. When she finally gets adopted, an event occurs that will impact the rest of her life and her ability to love. There is much to love about the stories of these two women, and the strength shown through their actions. Highly recommended and thanks to NetgalleY for the ARC.

I wish I could write like Renita D'Silva! This is a beautiful story which has been well researched and makes me feel that I am actually in the India of the Raj. The difference in the lifestyle and sense of entitlement of the British compared to the poverty and subservience of the "coolies" is so stark and heart wrenching. I liked the parallel stories ad the back and forth in time frames. I could appreciate that the young Alice was a product of her environment and knew nothing else but to be indulged but I didn't like her very much. In fact it was only towards the end of the book that I felt any empathy for her. Janaki on the other hand, was resilient whilst being very vulnerable. I really liked her!
This was a story of love, loss, entitlement and redemption. It will stay with me for a long time.
Thank you Renita D'Silva for being such a talented author, Thanks also to Bookouture and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book and give my unbiased opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to read a complimentary copy of this book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

This fictional historical novel moved me, I could smell the cinnamon and spices, see the vividness of the flowers and feel the despair of the characters. Well written and lovely. I followed Alice and Janaki on their life journeys through the hardships and triumphs, through love and pain. India has always been on my list of places I would like to travel to, I feel like I have travelled through this book into India’s past.

Wonderful book can’t wait to read more books by this author

The Orphan’s Gift by Renita D’Silva is a heartbreaking tale of unrequited love, broken families, missed opportunities, and ultimately, redemption. It has all the elements that make for a page turner that is quite emotional. The story takes you to England and India, but mostly India, with multiple time periods starting in 1905 thru 1986. But this book is more than just the human element between the protagonists, as you learn the history of India along with its colonization and its fight for independence from England. Ms. D'Silva gave us an astounding novel, one that will resonate with me for quite a while.. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another great historical fiction novel from Renita D'Silva. Living in an India controlled by the British Raj , Alice's life is dominated by her friendship with Raju, her nanny's son. Events out of both their control bring their friendship to the breaking point, and Alice loses so much that was dear to her. Historically accurate and well written, the entanglements and poignancy of these characters will stay with you.

Alice grows up in colonial Indian, more attached to her ayah than to her parents. Her best friend is her ayah's son Raju and she speaks Hindi more naturally than English. But friendship turns to love with devastating consequences for both Alice and Raju...
Janaki is raised in an orphanage, finding a temporary family before tragedy strikes. As a grown woman, she hardens her heart to prevent further sorrow but one man convinces her to give love a chance...
The connection between the two timelines in The Orphan's Gift is a unity of grief with hope. Both women are victims of their gender and their birth.
It took me a little while to get into this book as I acclimatised to the sensuous descriptions that author Renita D'Silva uses to evoke life in India. Once I was hooked by the plot and characters, the descriptions brought the book to life.
Alice is selfish and oblivious to the social class and racial divisions in India at the beginning of the century. Her focus on her own emotions and ignorance of the impact of her actions makes her a complex character and difficult to like. Yet the desire to find love and be accepted as you are is a basic human instinct and I find that I cannot blame her for her misplaced devotion, and by the end of the book I feel that she redeemed herself.
Janaki contrasts wonderfully with Alice. She is kind and has been moulded by the absence of a conventional family. The heartache she suffers cause a much more emotional grip on the reader as we feel she deserves to find love at last. At the end of the book, author Renita D'Silva comments that Janaki has always had love despite not knowing her parents and quotes Tennyson at the beginning 'It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all' but this book shows it is also better to have BEEN loved and lost it than never to have BEEN loved at all as is Alice's situation.
We meet famous people from India's past that challenge the status quo and our own selfishness: Gandhi and Mother Teresa. Renita D'Silva is not afraid to show the drama, danger and racism of India's fight for independence and self rule. I found the conflict over India to be a metaphor for the fight over women's bodies.
Overall, The Orphan's Gift was a beautifully written book which will surely create an emotional response in even the most hard hearted of readers!

I love Renita D’Silva and her books. I think it takes a special person to come up with the kind of beautiful stories that she does. She writes with so much heart and this is evident in each of her books and characters. Renita also has the ability to put my emotions into words. You know the way you feel something that you can’t really explain? I related with one of the characters so much such that her epiphany was mine too. I finally had words to explain an experience I had a few years ago. Anyway, let me try and explain why I have once again fallen in love with Renita’s writing.

Alice and Janaki are the main characters and narrators in this story. Alice was a young, British woman living in India. She was in love with the country, language, food, people and one boy called Raju. Needless to say, Alice falling in love with the native son of her Ayah was totally unacceptable. On the other hand, Janaki’s story was one of many heartbreaks. She grew up in an orphanage and experienced one loss after the another. Just when I thought my heart had broken enough, the author threw in another heartbreak such that I started wondering whether Janaki would ever have a happy ending.

The character development is very well done. I quickly fell in love with both women. I empathized with them. I rejoiced with them but then again, we went through so much heartbreak together. I was surprised by how much I related with Alice. At first, she was just another woman in a forbidden relationship. However, I soon found myself sharing many Aha moments with her.

This story is beautiful. It covers themes of love, loss, grief, hope and relationships. Renita’s writing as always was brilliant. I have always loved how she manages to bring scenes alive. The imagery of India was splendid. Despite the charged atmosphere in the country, I wanted to go there. I wanted to see the Saris, run through the fields,eat the exotic dishes, see all the bright colors that I associate with India. This book took me to an amazing trip. Its been 3 days since reading it but the scenes still haunt me.

Please read Renita’s books. It is an injustice to deny yourself the beauty that is her writing. You can start with The Orphan’s Gift.

Beautifully -written, captivating, memorable… I lack enough words to accurately describe just how amazing this book is. Just read it.

Alice, who grows up in India, always craved the love of her parents who don't really seem to care about her existence. Her father is always busy trying to keep the Indians from rebelling, and her mother, too far gone in her own depression to make the effort of raising her only child. So, Alice finds the love she craves in her ayah (nursemaid) and even more so in the ayah's son, Raju. She and Raju are inseparable from as far back as she can remember, refusing to do anything without him by her side.

Janaki is brought up in an orphanage, left there from birth, she is raised by the loving but strict nuns. She longs to be adopted and know what it's like to be in a loving family with parents who want her.
She endures some horribly tragic losses in her life and is terrified of loving anyone or anything for fear of losing them.

I've always loved Renita D'Silva's novels, I get excited every time I hear of a new one releasing so I was eager to read this newest one!

I personally was not a fan of Alice through out most of the book. She was naive and spoiled. Always used to getting her way and refusing to accept reality. Not caring how her actions affected others. This was fine as a child, but she didn't get much better as she grew up. However, that was exactly how her character was meant to be and she did acknowledge her mistakes, however late. One thing I really wished she had done was really stick to to her father by telling him he basically allowed his wife to die. I think that would have truly driven a spear into this heartless man and he would have deserved it. He was the most despicable character in the whole book.

My heart ached for Janaki throughout the whole book, I don't blame her one bit for any of her feelings, I cannot imagine going through the things she did, but I appreciated her personal growth and her happy ending.

I really wish we had gotten to know Raju a bit more, I would have liked a little bit of his perspective and thoughts. The story made me almost want to dislike him, but at the same time I felt so badly for him. He was put in some really tough situations.

While this wasn't my favorite book by this author, I still really enjoyed it and look forward to more from her! Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC copy of this book!

Spanning over 70 years, Renita D’Silva’s newest novel is a touching generational saga about women searching for belonging, falling in love, enduring loss, and learning from past mistakes. Daughter of the deputy commissioner for her region, Alice Harris lives in an elegant compound in the small city of Jamjadpur in early 20th-century India, knowing every material comfort but lacking parental affection. She grows up cocooned in the constant love of her nanny, a local woman she calls Ayah, and Ayah’s son, Raju, who is her playmate and best friend. In the 1940s, Janaki is raised by Carmelite nuns in a poor orphanage in the city center. While she dreams of being adopted by kind parents, that chance seems progressively more unlikely over time. Sister Shanthi often tells Janaki the story of how the nuns first found her, a blue-eyed newborn wrapped in a cardigan and left at the gate of St. Ursula’s during the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1936.

The viewpoint alternates between Alice and Janaki, whose connection should be obvious, and the author doesn’t pretend otherwise. Rather, the story follows both girls’ separate journeys and keeps us wondering whether they’ll ever meet. Some characterizations aren’t subtle: Alice’s cold-hearted father offers statements about India like “They want independence, self-rule, but without us they would not manage at all.” Her mother is a wilting English flower who revives only to party in the cool evenings. More layered is the portrait of blind privilege that D’Silva creates for Alice. As adolescents, she and Raju act on their mutual attraction, sharing a brief kiss, and the repercussions are more dire for him and his family. With its fast-moving plot and evocation of the sights, scents, and flavors of India, the novel should please fans of commercial women’s fiction and atmospheric settings.

(from the Historical Novels Review, May 2020)

I have always loved this authors work and, this one is no exception, though I must say I often didn't like one of the main characters too much, but it is what made the story so interesting.
A story of complicated relationships, a forbidden love, and what that can do to families and feelings.
In 1909 India, we meet Alice the young daughter of a British couple, Her father works for the British government and her mother takes care of the home. Alice does not feel connected to either parent as they hardly show her any affection.
Raju, a young Indian boy who is around the same age as Alice, and the son of her nanny, become inseparable and enjoy a wonderful childhood of freedom and friendship. Alice feel more Indian that British, a country she has never seen.
But as Alice and Raju grow up, feelings become stronger and Alice is sent to England by her father who doesn't like what he sees between the two childhood friends, and not returning for five years.
This story takes place at the time of The British Raj, the rule by the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent .
The story takes us between a couple of time lines, in 1944, we meet Janaki, who lives in an Orphanage in India, left there as a new born, dressed in a beautiful hand knitted cardigan, but never knowing who her parents were.
This stories chapters go between Alice and Janaki finally ending in 1986 as we see what and who the characters are and how they got to this point. There is so much between these pages, that will keep you reading.
The author always has such a wonderful way of describing thing, whether a feeling, or a scene, we feel the smells, colors, atmosphere of India in every description.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for a copy of this book.

4.5 Stars

1909, India. Alice Harris is an English girl growing up in India with her emotionally distant parents. Her father is the deputy commissioner for the British government and her mother spends her days in bed longing to return to England. Alice spends most of her time with her nanny, Ayah, and her son, Raju. Alice and Raju are the best of friends, but when they become too close as teenagers, it leads to tragic consequences for Raju and his family.

1944, India. Eight-year-old Janaki lives in an orphanage run by nuns. She is a kind and optimistic girl who longs to be adopted by a loving family. From there, we follow Janaki's heartbreaking journey to becoming a successful doctor.

This is a beautifully written and heartbreaking tale of love, family, loss, regrets, and healing. Set mostly in India, this story spans two generations and tells the story of two girls growing up under completely different circumstances. The writing style is compelling, and the author is very talented in her descriptive writing and these descriptions pulled me into the story right from the start and instantly transported me to the beautiful country of India, with its rich culture, delicious food, sweltering heat, and the daily lives of the Indian people who were fighting for their country's independence. The characters were so well-written that I felt what they were going through. This book shows readers that your past doesn't have to define you or shape your future, and the importance of moving forward and learning to forgive yourself.
This wonderful and heart-wrenching story will stay with me for a very long time. If you enjoy historical fiction, then I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

😊 The Orphan's Gift is my first book by Renita D'Silva and it was a thoroughly enjoyable story. Set in England and India, it tells the stories of Alice and Janaki, told in alternating chapters spanning two generations, as the reader follows the two girls through to adulthood.

It's 1910 and in India, golden-haired Alice Harris is growing up in her family's expansive compound with her emotionally distant parents, Robert and Caro. Robert is the Deputy Commissioner for the British government and her mother spends her time longing only for the English countryside. Alice spends her days with her nanny, Ayah and her young son, Raju, and the pair have become inseparable... until her father decides to send Raju far away and banishes Alice to England.

The reader also meets Janaki as an eight-year-old in 1944, living in an orphanage in India run by nuns. Running concurrently with Alice's story, the reader learns the details of Janaki's life, how she longs for her real mother, the woman who was forced to abandon her, wrapped in a precious gift… a hand-knitted, embroidered cardigan.

This is a gentle read with a wonderful, appealing descriptiveness. Renita D'Silva creates her characters with heart and I could virtually hear their voices emanating from the pages. This soul-stirring and resonant story has themes of love, loss, regret, abandonment, passion, resilience and friendship. I was emotionally invested in the journeys of the characters and there were all manner of reactions from the odd tear, to anger, and broad grins. A pleasing and satisfying ending.

I highly recommend this stunning five-star read. I can’t believe I haven’t read any of Renita D'Silva’s other books, but A Daughter's Courage is now on my 'to-read' list. 😊

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Bookouture via NetGalley at my request and this review is unbiased opinion.

This is a beautiful touching and heartbreaking book. Growing up with a frail mother and a cold and distant father who show her little love or attention, Alice's constant companion and best friend is Raju, a servant's son. Her feelings for her friend only deepen with age, but any kind of relationship between them can only lead to tragic consequences. Years later, Janaki is raised in an orphanage. Although, the nuns who raise her are loving and caring and her fellow orphans are friendly and sweet, every time it seems that she has found true happiness, it is taken away from her. It will take Janaki's daughter, Deepa to bring these two woman together. If you are a crier, you will definitely want to have tissues handy when you read this book. You will definitely need them. This gut-wrenching book will rip your heart out, and it will touch your soul.

Oh I am sitting here thinking how will my review for this book do it justice. What on earth will I say to let you know how beautiful this authors story is.
I don't know much about India if I'm completely honest with you.
I've never been to the country and today I feel the poorer for it.
Reading The Orphan's Gift transported me to such a beautiful and amazing country in my mind.
I could almost feel the heat on my face....
the aroma of spices all around me as I breathe in and the wonderful flowers leaving off the most gorgeous scent...
This was such an atmospheric read
Equally I could feel the turmoil, the torment and the brutal realities of wanting an independent India from British rule.
We meet an array of characters in this story...
Alice, Raju, Ayah, Janeki to name but a few...each one so full of life in their own right. So much character and richness...
I don't think I'll ever forget them...
Each characters story told over the years..
Their hunger, their passion and equally their hurt & pain laid bare on the pages..
My heart broke in between the pages for sure and soared when the love shone...
An absolutely amazing and astonishing read that I will hold dear to my heart and will shout about for a long time...❤
I can't recommend it highly enough and will I'm sure be my book of this year.....
Well done Renita, simply brilliant...

Alice grows up in India. She is the daughter from a wealthy family. Her father has a high position in the city. Her mother's home is England but lives in India with her husband and daughter. Alice has been raised by an Indian Amah. She breastfed her since birth with her own baby Raju. Raju and Alice grow up together. They are best friends. Alice doesn't realize until she is older that there is a difference between her and the people that work for her family. All she knows is that the maids and other servants, her Amah and Raju are her family and they love her like family. Because of this she doesn't mind not seeing her father or mother very often.
As Alice and Raju grow older there are things they can no longer do together. When Alice and Raju reach sixteen years of age they are caught kissing. This is the beginning of a journey the Raju and Alice have never foreseen. They are separated. Alice to England and Raju and the entire staff are fired and sent out of their homes without references. Thos is what happens when a white girl and a "coolie " are caught together. This one instance changes their future.
This is a story of love, regret, forgiveness, struggle, strength and especially family.

The Orphan's Gift by Renita D'Silva is set in India and follows two women from their early childhoods right into their adult lives. The book is split into many parts, some of which are longer than others, and it is told from both women's perspectives. The story takes quite some time to settle into a consistent rhythm and it took me awhile to become accustomed to the chopping and changing between characters and time periods even though these where mentioned at the beginning of each chapter. I just found it jumped around far too much and this meant I couldn't settle into the story that was very slowly unfolding. For in my mind there was a very slow build up to what the crux of the story actually was. Persistence is needed but you will be well rewarded.

In the beginning over the course of a few chapters we are informed of a visit to a woman which will tilt her world on its axis. We were told of this several times but using different words to convey the same meaning. I understood the first time that major changes were afoot and didn't feel the need for the repetition and at several points in the story I just felt there was too much repetition instead of the story being driven on. To that end I did think the story as a whole could have been shorter as parts seemed unnecessarily long. These were the main issues I had with this book but pushing them aside there is a very good story of love, loss, tragedy, sacrifice and devotion waiting to be uncovered. Once I could look beyond the issues I found arising I could see the author had woven a story where the affects of your family's actions and viewpoints and how our childhoods are shaped really does have a deep and long lasting impact for the remainder of our lives.

The descriptions of India, the food, the heat, the nature, spices, the daily life are all wonderfully and creatively described throughout the book from beginning to end. They add a heightened sense of awareness to the overall themes being explored and help bring the country to life. The political situation at the time is also a background to the main plot but it does come to play a more important role the further the book progresses and it has devastating implications for the characters we are reading about. The Indian people are seeking their independence from Britain and figures who have gone on to make their mark on history do feature here, those being Ghandi and Mother Teresa. Race and accepted rules and regulations play a vital role in this story and not following these will led to torment,tragedy, loss, heartache and loneliness.

We gain a very deep insight into both women's differing childhoods and only as I reached the end point did I fully comprehend the necessity of this as events, situations, feelings and the results of actions have a significant forbearing on the last quarter of the book. Alice was born in India to a British father and mother. Her father has a very important job in the British government and is more often than not absent from the house. Alice's mother is cold and aloof preferring to spend the long hot days locked away in her room. So Alice only has her wet nurse, who is her ayah, and her ayahs son son Raju for company. But that is enough to sustain her and she explores the compound with Raju and a deep friendship is formed. Alice despite her young age feels complete and at one with Raju. He makes her whole and she knows he understands her and can interpret her every gesture, movement and emotion. They spend glorious days together becoming as one with nature.

Alice throughout the book was not a character I warmed to. She seemed so needy and when she didn't receive that love and warmth from her parents she sought it somewhere else. This being in the form of Raju which at the time went against all social conventions as being a servant and an Indian and of a low class would not have suited Alice's family at all. I understood she was crying out for affection from her parents but she placed herself in a situation of her own making and to be honest she was so selfish. She could never see the bigger picture that her actions had consequences for all involved and that in her quest to satisfy her own longings to feel complete and whole she was destroying and risking other people's lives and entire families and communities. She did nothing but moan about how unhappy she was but she should have understood that happiness can be found in other forms and that her actions would only lead to the separation of herself and Raju.

One had to wonder did Raju feel the same way as Alice or was he more street wise and he enjoyed her company for what it was in and around the compound but he knew in reality that this could never be a sure fire thing and that perhaps he was much more wiser to the bigger political and personal situation at play. When her father learns of the friendship they are forced apart and for the remainder of the story Alice will test you with her actions because I felt she was satisfying herself and putting others in danger unnecessarily. She couldn't see beyond finding her own happiness but she really should have taken the wool from her eyes and interpreted the bigger picture. Towards the end things began to make a lot more sense with Alice but I still think lots of things could have been averted and things could have turned out so differently for many of the characters I had been reading about.

The other woman we read about is Janaki who had been left at an orphanage when she was just a raw infant. Again she is a character that is not without her flaws but they are present because of what happened to her in her childhood and there are more events throughout her life that make her so wary of everything and she refuses to allow love into her life. Or if it is there in some form she protects it all costs leading to a stifling life where no contentment or fulfilment can be achieved. Janaki goes against the norm in that she comes from nothing and uses what has happened to her to follow her dreams to become a doctor. She made a promise to a friend that she would see it through and my god she showed such grit and determination to do so. The orphanage wasn't all that bad and she forms strong bonds with some of the nuns who run it but when she is dealt one cruel blow after another she feels there is no way forward.

Janaki was very very hard on herself and I think the fact that she was abandoned and left at the door of the orphanage played a huge part in this. She feels unloved, unwanted and neglected and she wants and needs answers. But they are not forthcoming. She shies away from emotion in fear of it not being reciprocated but she needs to learn to let herself go and embrace the good things that are there waiting for. There are many comparisons to be made between Janaki and Alice and I was interested to see how the two strands of the story may or may not eventually merge.

The Orphan's Gift although not my favourite book from Renita D'Silva was still a good read despite some of the issues I have outlined. There are valuable, interesting and worthwhile themes being explored and enough within the story to keep you guessing right until the very end.

EXCERPT: Alice - 1986

Alice's life changes on a perfectly ordinary afternoon in the midst of a perfectly ordinary week.

She is in the little room off the nursery, which passes for her office, catching up on paperwork, while the the children have their afternoon siesta, when there is a knock on her door.

'Come in,' Alice calls, her joints creaking audibly as she stretches.

When did I get so old?'

Outside the open window, a lazy breeze, hot and humid, caresses the tamarind trees, their knotted brown fruit contrasting with the bright, dust-tinted green of the leaves. Crows natter among the branches and spots of bright colour among the bed of mulch and leaves at the base of the trees tantalise the eyes: cloth dolls, lying where the children have arranged them for a tea party at playtime, clad in colourful pieces of sari and the occasional sequin. The dolls glint like a kaleidoscope when they catch the gilded sunrays spilling through the tree canopies.

Kali pops her head around Alice's door, smiling as always, bright-eyed and eager. One of the first children Alice took on, Kali is now a mother to three of her own, but still helping out here when she can.

'There's someone asking for you.'

Must be another of the desperate mothers Alice often sees; someone who has heard of Alice from the women she has helped before.

'Please take my kids,' they all plead. 'They will have a better life here than I can ever give them. He comes home drunk, having spent all he's earned, hits us senseless, then has his way with me. Now, with another one on the way...'

They pat their burgeoning stomachs, tears pooling in their fraught eyes.

Alice listens. She says, 'I understand.' And they can see that she does. She says, 'Giving your children away is not the answer.'

'But...'

'You're all they have.'

'It's not so eas-'

'I'll help you.'

And she does, escorting them to the refuge, assisting in any way she can, being there for them until they find their feet.

Afterwards they come to thank her.

It will be one of them.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: 1910, India. Young and curious Alice, with her spun-gold hair, grows up in her family’s sprawling compound with parents as remote as England, the cold country she has never seen. It is Raju, son of a servant, with whom she shares her secrets. Together, their love grows like roses – but leaves deep thorns. Because when they get too close, Alice’s father drags them apart, sending Raju far away and banishing Alice to England…

1944. Intelligent and kind Janaki is raised in an orphanage in India. The nuns love to tell the story: Janaki’s arrival stopped the independence riots outside the gates, as the men on both sides gazed at the starry-eyed little girl left in a beautiful hand-knitted cardigan. Janaki longs for her real mother, the woman who was forced to abandon her, wrapped in a precious gift…

Now old enough to be a grandmother and living alone in India, Alice watches children play under the tamarind trees, haunted by the terrible mistake she made fifty years ago. It’s just an ordinary afternoon, until a young girl with familiar eyes appears with a photograph and Alice must make a choice. Will she spend the rest of her life consumed by dreams of the past, or can she admit her mistakes and choose love and light at last?

MY THOUGHTS: The Orphan's Gift by Renita D'Silva failed to captivate me. I was struggling by 30%, and by 50% I had totally lost interest and skimmed the remaining half of the book.

Very little happens in the first half. We are privy to Alice's life of privilege in the early 1900s in India as daughter of a government official, brought up by an ayah, and befriended by her son Raju. There are endless descriptions of her days, endlessly the same, the surroundings and the food.

In the mid 1900s a beautiful fair haired girl, Janaki, is raised in an Indian orphanage, St Ursulas. Again, nothing much happens.

We jump from Alice to Janaki, and back again, occasionally segueing into the future, the 1980s. But by the time the story began to get interesting, if it actually did, I had completely lost interest. Nothing that I skimread in the second half changed my opinion. There are only so many descriptions of a tamarind tree, or the scents of spicy samosas and sweet lassi, a reader can endure. But they kept coming....

And then there is the slushy, overblown description of the love between Raju and Alice: 'Raju had bravely and single-handedly protected her from their fury', and 'I only felt I belonged somewhere when Raju kissed me. Only then.', and 'Raju, his caramel eyes sparkling, his lips,meeting hers, her heart settling for the first time ever, replete for a brief but perfect moment with that elusive, longed-for feeling of completeness.' That completely turned me off.

The Orphan's Gift spans an amazing and important period of Indian history, which is only briefly touched upon, glossed over. An opportunity missed. I am disappointed with this vapid offering.

Reading is a personal and subjective experience, and what appeals to one may not please another. So if you enjoyed the excerpt from The Orphan's Gift, and the plot outline appeals, please do go ahead and read it. Many people have loved this book, and you may be another.

🤔😕

#TheOrphansGift #NetGalley #Bookouture

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', 'A Daughter's Courage', 'Beneath An Indian Sky', 'The Girl In The Painting'. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I loved writing them.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Orphan's Gift by Renita D'Silva for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Cover two timeframes 1910 - 1944 you become a mother , make life changing decisions. Then as time progresses you begin to question “did I do the right thing. Alice becomes a grandmother and there is the story of Janaki.. a must read. Earned all 5stars for me.

Publication Date: 29 April 2020
Publisher: Bookouture

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A beautiful emotional story written so well about two characters Alice and Janaki, two young girls growing up in different times but both experiencing love, loss, friendship and heartache.

The story is set in India and told in dual timelines, alternating between chapters and within two generations. The author really captures the setting with her description of scenery, colours and smells and while I have never been to India, I felt like I was right there seeing it all with my own eyes.

Born and raised in India, English girl Alice is the daughter of her father, the Deputy Commissioner of the British government who is rarely home and her mother who wastes her days away in bed having never to be able to cope with life in India and longing to be back in England. Alice spend her days with her nanny, Ayah and her young son, Raju.

Left on the steps of an orphanage in India in 1944 in a beautiful hand-knitted cardigan , Janaki is brought up by the nuns. Janaki longs for the unconditional love and security of a family and dreams of the day she will be chosen to be adopted. We follow her hopes and dreams of finding that love through her story.

This is the first novel I have read from this author and I was impressed with the way i was drawn into the story. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Thank you Netgalley, Bookouture and Renita D'Silva for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A lovely dual time line story of two women in India. Alice, raised by her nanny and ignored by her parents, first played with Raju and then falls in love with him. Alice's night of passion lead to her forced repatriation to the UK and a life of regret. Janaki, left as a baby at an orphanage, has a tougher road to adulthood. Their alternating voices will engage you. You might guess early on where this will lead but go with it because D'Silva has created memorable characters in a setting that reminds you how much the world has changed. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good quarantine - or anytime- read.