After the death of her father, educated Aliyah moves from the city to live in a rural area with her daughter Sakina.

Purchasing her own property and having the liberty to make her own choices, Aliyah works hard to grow her own produce and hires a farmhand, Shep, to assist with the enormous job.

Aliyah and Shep, together, explore the philosophies of their lives and their religion with mutual understanding but lies will cause riffs and can they be overcome?

Throughout the story, Aliyah makes new friends and gets reacquainted with old ones causing turmoil, bonds and community cohesion.

I enjoyed this book and the insight from Aliyah's point of view.

Thankyou to #Netgalley and #Stormpublishing for the free copy of #Translations in exchange for an honest review.

The author is undoubtedly talented and possesses a broad vocabulary, but her editor should have reminded her that not every page needs to showcase it. At times, the writing felt a bit pretentious, which detracted from the overall reading experience.

Unfortunately, neither the story nor the characters were compelling enough to compensate for the tedious prose. I kept asking myself, "Why is she telling this story?" and I can't say I ever figured it out. While themes like dispossession, ownership, and (mis)communication are inherently interesting, the narrative never crystallised into something truly meaningful or valuable.

I also found it difficult to grasp the characters' motivations. Why is the protagonist so perpetually angry and mistrusting? And why does she take in Hana so readily, despite barely knowing her? Their childhood friendship didn’t seem strong enough to justify such significant actions.

I hope the author continues to write—she's clearly talented. However, it feels like her team overlooked some key issues that could have elevated the book.