Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for the purpose of this review.

I'm giving this book three stars. I liked Shah's writing style and was more in love with the idea of this story more than the book for some reason. Parts of it felt really long to me and I'm wondering if her other work is the same or not.

When she was 6, Sophie was told that her mother had died in an accident. She had no reason not to believe that. As an adult, when her father passes away, Sophie discovers something while cleaning out his home that leads her to believe her mother may be alive.

In fact, Nita Shah did walk away from her husband and daughter and their comfortable life and went to Paris, where her life was not as easy. She had lead a sheltered life and had a difficulties in Paris. Sophie decides to head to Paris to search for her mother, also a bit naive. Both experience some culture shock - Paris is not India!

It's definitely a journey of growth for both mother and daughter as they never wanted for anything in India and always had family there to assist. Paris was a different story. They had to fend for themselves and learn who they could trust (& who they couldn't) and they both encountered many difficulties and obstacles along the way.

This book deals with mental health. Nita continuously struggles with what she calls a darkness inside her and always seems to be chasing that elusive thing that will bring her happiness.

This is a beautifully written, but sad book that deals with a few tough topics like mental health, addiction, mother daughter relationships, and how family can assist you or confine you.

Many thanks to Lets Talk Books Promo and Amazon Publishing for allowing me to be a part of their tour and providing me a gifted copy, as well as NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an advance digital copy!

A good heartfelt read about a daughter chasing her mother's past to find out the truth about who she was and the decisions she had made. Sophie had believed for years that her mother had died in a bad accident, and after her father passes the truth comes to light while she is helping to clean out the house. Not fully understanding why this secret was taken to her father’s grave, Sophie decides she needs to find her mother and heads to Paris in hopes of a reconciliation and answers to how different her childhood could have been. Coming from a very traditional Indian family, Sophie is going against tradition and the rules of what is expected of her during this time. It has been made clear by her aunts that her mother already disgraced the family and Sophie cannot follow in those footsteps. Plans have been made for her future and she needs to abide by what the family has done to help her move to her next step in life, being a wife and house maker. Knowing little about life outside of her Indian town, Sophie heads to a whole different world and quickly learns the potential draw this had on her mother as she chases down lead after lead and finds pieces of herself on her journey. Thank you to Suzy Approved Book Tours for the invite and to the author for sending me a free copy of her novel. I enjoyed this story and learned a lot about the Indian culture and traditions.

Wow. What a powerhouse of a book. I think I’ll be recommending this to everyone. I did not want to put this down.
This is a beautiful story of searching for family and meaning, identity and societal expectations. Told through a dual timeline of Nita and 20 years later, her daughter Sophie. Both searching for answers.

Just wonderful.

Title: The Direction Of The Wind
Author: Mansi Shah
Genre: General Fiction, Women's Fiction

My Review:

The Direction of the Wind is the story of a daughter searching for her mother. This book is set in Paris and Ahmedabad of 1998 and 2019. Alternating between the stories of Nita and Sophie we get to transverse their stories.This is the premise in nutshell. Throughout the journey we get to see other characters who are stuck in their own stories.

I liked the part where the author tries to highlight the part where the narrative talks about the mental illnesses not discussed enough. Nita's turmoil about leaving her family is written well. But that's where my liking for this novel ends.

I am probably one of those people who is going to be critical about this novel. Nita and Sophie are stuck in patriarchal society I agree but some of their actions just doesn't add up. Nita is an educated person but without doing any research moves to a different country just because she wants to pursue art and is fed up with her privileged life. Same with Sophie. An accountant goes to Paris without looking up hotels, something called as Uber and Paris of this age doesn't have Indians? I get it that patriarchal society is prevalent in India but writing these women characters as dumb doesn't make sense. And since when does having pets in India not common.

Can Indian American authors please stop projecting India as this backward country where everything is about poverty, street animals and gossiping aunties? Please look at other diverse authors who try to incorporate their culture positively too and highlight the wonderful community they have. Sadly this novel disappointed me.

CW: Child Abandonment, addiction, drug usage, Infidelity, sexual assault

“The direction of the wind cannot be changed, but we can change the direction of our sails.”

Sophie has grown up in Ahmedabad, India with her father, who becomes her whole world after her mother, Nita, dies when she is six. Now 28, she’s agreed to an arranged marriage brokered by her aunties after the unexpected death of her father. While going through his things, Sophie finds letters written by her mother, years after her supposed death. Nita, feeling trapped in her marriage and motherhood, leaves her family and the privileges of upper class life to pursue her art, and herself, in Paris. Now, Sophie leaves her home for the first time to look for the mother who abandoned her.

This is the type of emotional read I love. Different cultures, a strong sense of place, great characters, plus a bit of mystery and drama makes this a book you just fall into. The book is written from both Sophie and Nita’s POV in two timelines. At first I didn’t think I’d like the story because I cannot imagine leaving my children, but I could empathize with Nita’s feelings of inadequacy and as being seen as only part of herself. I felt the story hit a slow patch in the middle but I just had to know what happened. This book is both heartbreaking and full of hope.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and the author for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

The Direction of the Wind is a novel that took me by surprise. Although it may look like a simple story of a daughter searching for the mother she thought was dead, it delves into much bigger themes and leaves the reader with a new perspective.

In the late 1990s, Nita Shah abandoned her husband and daughter, leaving an easy and comfortable life in India for a life of striving in France. Though she’s 30 years old, Nita is naive and uncertain how to make her way in Paris. Some people she meets are kind and helpful; others will lead her down a difficult road. When her daughter Sophie searches Paris in 2019, she comes with some of the same naivety but also with more sure footing. Both come of age, in a way, while in Paris, but the conclusions they each draw may differ.

Early on, one element I enjoyed in The Direction of the Wind is the culture shock both Nita and Sophie experience in Paris. French culture—or Western culture more widely—is so different to what they’re used to in India! It’s in everything, from greetings (kisses on the cheeks!) to the openness with which people talk to each other to the way families interact. Nita, in particular, is determined to fit in, to assimilate to French culture. For her, this means dressing in jeans rather than a sari, drinking wine, smoking cigarettes.

Both Nita and Sophie get into some tough spots, and both learn how sheltered they’ve been up until now. The men in their lives paid for everything, the servants took care of everything, and family was always there to help (or control). In Paris, these two women need to earn money to survive, and both must learn who they can trust as they make their way forward.

One of the most impactful themes in The Direction of the Wind is the discussion of mental health. Nita describes a darkness inside of her. Why can’t she be happy? Will she always be chasing joy and fulfillment? She feels so out of place; will moving to a new country solve her problems? As Nita works towards being a painter, she ends up living the true lifestyle of the “starving artist.” With time, her perspective of Paris and of herself shifts… but how can she move forward now?

The Direction of the Wind goes in some surprisingly dark directions. I will admit that I had tears in my eyes towards the end. The book is so beautifully and tenderly written, I couldn’t help but feel for the characters. It’s a painful story of a fractured mother-daughter relationship, of the ways culture or family can confine you, of mental health and addiction and toxic people, and of how a home is more than just a physical place.

The Direction of the Wind is a heart-wrenching and impactful novel that will ignite your feelings and inspire thoughtful discussions. It’s a stunning sophomore novel by Mansi Shah, and I look forward to reading her first book, The Taste of Ginger, as well as any future books she publishes.

Shah has written a story that takes from India to Paris to L.A., following a daughter as she searches for answers from a mother who she had thought dead. Nita herself fled India to follow her dream of becoming a painter in the city where art breathed, leaving behind a marriage and a daughter, the unbearable weight of a tradition and expectations that were slowly stifling her. Sophie wants to know why. I love that we get both perspectives that follow the path both women take in order to answer questions they have for themselves and others. It shows their misgivings and doubts, how vulnerable they are in this new world where they have no experience and no language or culture in common, and how they both learn and adapt to survive, each in their own way, one more tragic than the other.

On this journey to fulfill a dream and find answers, we come to see how in certain ways our traditions and insular views can disadvantage our young people, making them unaware and ill-equipped to handle a more open society. We see it when Nita arrives with no understanding of what it truly means to provide for and survive on your own and with Sophie as she realizes that her father having handled every detail of her life has left her rather unprepared for what lies beyond the world and home you know.

But Shah writes these women with understanding, even as one falls into a controlling relationship, becoming a shadow of all she had desired and the other steps into herself, accepting all the parts that make her who she is, meeting her future secure in knowing how she will go forward. Although it was not a happy ending all round, it was heart-wrenching and heartening to see how these women bloomed and faded as their choices framed their lives.

I really loved The Direction of the Wind. I was pulled right into Sophie and Nita’s story from the first pages. I knew I was going to fall in love with both of them and they would break my heart. I was right. The book moves between now with Sophie searching for the mother she’s long thought dead and the past when Nita walk away from her family beckoned by the bright lights of Paris. I found Nita’s story more compelling. I really wanted to find out when both stories would meet. Sophie annoyed me a little as she referred to Nita as mummy even though she was in her twenties which grated a little. I cried a lot reading this beautiful book.

THE DIRECTION OF THE WIND
By: Mansi Shah

I am a huge fan of Mansi Shah, having read her debut novel in December of 2021, A TASTE OF GINGER.

In THE DIRECTION OF THE WIND, Shah tells a tale of a young Indian woman in search for her mother, after having been told in a lie that she had passed away when Sophie was six years old. The truth was, Sophie’s mother Nita had not died, but instead had abandoned her family to pursue her artistic passions in Paris.

Shah brilliantly writes a dual timeline story, that peels the layers of Sophie and Nita’s journey in both past, and the present. How the story intersects will grab your heart and soul, as cultures and generation collide, and the sacrifices made for the price of freedom bears its consequences.

I struggled with Mansi Shah’s The Direction of the Wind because of the subject matter. This story is about a mother and a daughter and told across two timelines. Nita feels trapped by her traditional Indian family life and longs to be an artist, so she leaves her young daughter and husband to move to Paris. Twenty years later, Sophie finds her mother’s letters among her late father’s possessions. Having been told her whole life that her mother died in a car crash, Sophie decides to find her mother and get answers. This book involves a lot of introspection and tragedy as it explores abandonment, grief, mental health, addiction, and the burdens of tradition. I found Shah’s portrayals nuanced and (for the most part) their choices difficult, though it’s entirely possible (perhaps probable) that someone with more experience may pose necessary criticism. I liked this enough to add Shah’s debut to my TBR.

This was truly an emotional and heartbreaking book I have read.

The story starts with Sophie who is living in India and is about to get married. Her father passed away and while going through his belongings, she realized that her mother who she thought was dead had been living in France and had been sending letters to her father. Wanting to know the answers, Sophie embarks on a journey to France to find answers as to why her mother had been absent from her life for all those years. Nita Shah has everything a woman dreams of in Ahmedabad but she wanted independence and moves to France, where she meets a Frenchman named Matthias and soon her life start to change drastically.

I like the fact that this was realistically written. The effect how an arranged marriage could have on a woman, the regrets that a woman makes of one silly mistake and the determination to find the answers. What both Sophie and Nita going through are very realistic and I like the fact that the author beautifully wrote the two women's part going back and forth between past and present realistically. Nita was a naive and not very accustomed to the outside world, soon falls into the life of sex and drugs as she starts a new life in France. Sophie on the other hand is intelligent although initially she fell at first a victim of two scammers. The cultural differences between the two countries was outlined in the book really well. So overall, I finished this book within one setting as this book takes the reader around the world from India to France to USA. I am going to check this author out and will read more books written by this author! Worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Such an emotional read. The story is told from 2 perspectives Nita and Sophie who are mother and daughter and largely set between Ahmedabad, India and Paris, France. It touches on cultural differences, themes of addiction, grief/death and abandonment.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

When Sophie Shah’s father Rajiv suddenly passes away, a couple of weeks later she discovers he’s been keeping a secret from her and she’s stunned. Twenty-two years ago, a six year old Sophie returned home from school and her father told her her mother Nita had died in a tragic accident. The truth was his wife had ran away from their arranged marriage and daughter and traveled to Paris. Leaving behind her family, husband, daughter and comfortable life in Ahmedabad, India, and for the unknown.

Nita arrives in Paris in her sari, she’s in her early thirties and wants to be an artist. She has nowhere to live, she has never been in charge of her own finances before, drank alcohol or worn western style clothes. Nita meets a street artist called Marais, he’s charming and charismatic and she falls under his spell.

Sophie’s aunts have arranged for her to get married, as a single woman she can't live alone, she leaves her fiancé behind and boards a plane to Paris. Sophie is rather wet behind the ears like her mother, despite being twenty-eight and an accountant. She sets about trying to find Nita, all she has is an old photograph and some letters. As Sophie slowly uncovers snippets of information about Nita, she discovers her father looked for her mother for years and couldn’t find her.

I received a copy of The Direction Of The Wind by Mansi Shah from NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing in exchange for an honest review. It’s a really interesting story and it looks closely into Indian culture, the practice of arranged marriages and how restricted the young women’s lives were. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live in such a way, it would be very claustrophobic and frustrating.

The narrative focuses on the two main characters struggles and is written from their points of view. For Sophie it’s a journey full of shocks and surprises, she discovers her parent’s personal struggles, flaws, secrets, weakness and the mistakes they made. By finding out what happened to her mother Nita, it brings Sophie closure, she can work out what she wants to do, make up her own mind about getting married and if she does it needs to be on equal terms. Four stars from me, the narrative made me feel so many emotions and it really made me think, I felt sad, shocked, angry, compassionate, and most of all thankful for being able to make my own decisions, follow my dreams and not be controlled by others.

Unfortunately, this is just not the right time for me to be reading this kind of book right now, especially as I always struggle with 3rd person. I do hope to pick it back up later, though.

THE DIRECTION OF THE WIND is an emotional, insightful, and deeply layered novel.

This book is told in two timelines and with two narrators.

In 2019, while grieving her father’s death in India, Sophie finds letters from her mom, Nita, which comes as a complete surprise to her. Sophie was told Nita died 22 years ago. Sophie goes to Paris to try to find her mom and get answers why Nita abandoned her.

In 1999, Nita leaves her 6 year old daughter, husband, and upper class life in India to travel to Paris basically penniless to pursue her art.

I found myself absorbed on the surface with the cultural differences between India and Paris. Both Nita and Sophie had arranged marriages and neither women had traveled far outside of their hometown before leaving for Paris.

Each timeline captivated me as I read Sophie’s search for her mother and Nita’s complicated life in Paris.

This book addresses mental health issues and addictive behavior. I read this one in a day and I feel like it would be a great book club discussion book.

A thoughtful look at a mother and her daughter- both of whom follow their hearts and then find one another. Nita felt constrained and miserable and so, when her daughter Sophie was six, she left India for Paris. Sophie, who was told her mother died learns she's alive when her father dies. Now 28, she's not happy with the plan of her aunties to marry her off and so she also takes off- to find Nita. Told in dual time lines, it's emotional and if the reader can sense what will happen well, that's ok because Shah is a good storyteller. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

The Direction of the Wind is a dual timeline fiction story about love, loss, and destiny.

The present day, 2019, storyline features Sophie. After recently losing her father, Sophie uncovers a large family secret. At age 6 she thought her mother, Nita, died. In reality, Nita ran away. On a mission to find and reconnect with her mother, Sophie embarks on a journey to France to find her mother.

The timeline beginning in 1998 begins with Nita's decision to desert her family and start a life in France. Nita didn't choose her life in Ahmedabad. Though she loves her six year old daugher, Sophie, she has never felt maternal instincts. She takes destiny into her hands and moves to France to pursue her dreams to become an artist.

The Direction of the Wind is easy to read and has short to medium chapters with cliff hangers. I became genuinely interested in both storylines. Sophie's journey to France pushes her outside her comfortable life and she becomes more independent and confident as she uncovers her mother's secrets. Nita's just as engaging story is a little bit tougher to read as she is the more conflicted character. I felt like the book's easy prose made it read similar to a young adult novel, but without giving any spoilers there is a depth and heaviness to the content as the story goes on.

This book has some very interesting themes about cultural freedom, personal identity, and choosing your own destiny. I would read another book from this author.

This book is good. The story is engaging, the pacing is perfect for me, and the character development is good. Overall, I enjoyed the story, except for one thing. One of the characters annoyed me a lot. The mother of the main character keeps making unnecessary mistakes. In this story, the mother represents a woman who is wronged by tradition and culture. But, I think, most of her problems occur not because of this tradition, but because of her foolishness. This makes the message kind of biased.

After Sophie's beloved Papa passes, she is stunned to find out that her mother did not die when she was a child but fled to Paris to pursue her dreams of being an artist. Devastated and feeling increasing pressure from her fois to settle into an arranged, Sophie follows Nita's footsteps to Paris and discovers the shocking trajectory of her mother's life, forever changing the course of hers in the process.

This was an exquisitely rendered tale of the complex relationships between family in all its forms, Sophie's unadulterated love for her parents becomes marred by the abandonment of her mother and the lies told by her father and her family. It forces Sophie to look back critically at her life as a child and as a woman and how she must learn to navigate life without her father's protection for the first time.

Sophie and Nita's stories are told in parallel, following Nita's path throughout the city as she follows her dreams down unknown and sometimes perilous paths and Sophie's reckoning of the woman Nita became compared to the one she knew.

I do wish that we had gotten more of Nita's story near the end, it felt a little rushed and while parts of it were filled it by others it would have been important to have her struggles shown through her own eyes. Sophie's growth and development throughout the story from her wide eyed naiveté on reaching Paris to her confidence when she returned to Ahmedabad was a stark contrast to Nita's own journey.

I think the ending was fitting in its way, Sophie found a measure of joy to counter the pain and a greater faith in her support system, tempered by the knowledge that she could stand on her own when needed.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for this review copy.