Every Word Unsaid by Kimberly Duffy

In Every Word Unsaid by Kimberly Duffy, we meet Augusta "Gussie" Travers. Gussie is an adventuress, writer, and photographer using Kodak's newfangled portable camera. It's 1897 and her family is the social climbing variety, her father a banker who has managed to marry off one of his daughters into New York's high society; a second daughter will marry soon. Gussie's readers know her only as "Miss Adventuress" and the family worries about damage to their reputations if her traveling is exposed. 

As the book opens, Gussie is in Deadwood, South Dakota with a paid companion but she knows she will need to return home, soon. She just has one last place to photograph. After things get a little complicated and Gussie arrives home barely in time for an important event, everything goes downhill and the family decides Gussie must go stay with her aunt in Chicago till the fervor dies down. They hope everyone's memories will be short. But, Gussie is not interested in being stuck with a stodgy aunt in a town everyone's familiar with. She wants to go somewhere exotic. 

With a guarantee that her adventures will continue to be published, Gussie sneaks away to India. There, her childhood friends Gabriel (aka "Specs") and Catherine live. Specs is a doctor and his sister Catherine has been recently widowed. They're happy to see Gussie but there's one small problem: there's an ongoing outbreak of bubonic plague in the area. And, then, a second problem arrives when Gussie realizes she is in love with Specs. 

Will Gussie and her friends be able to stay safe from the plague? When Gussie also finds herself falling in love with India, will she be able to convince herself that it's possible to both settle down and still have an adventurous life? Or, will everything be halted by the arrival of her Uncle James, who has been tasked with chasing her down and bringing her back to Chicago?

Recommended - While I thought Every Word Unsaid was a bit overlong (it could have been trimmed by at least 50 pages, in my humble opinion), I liked Gussie from the first page. She's headstrong in a good way, a very likable character, and I liked the secondary characters, as well. I also found the author's vivid descriptions of India enchanting; she made me want to jump on a plane. It was clear the author has spent some time in India; she didn't just look it up on the Internet. One note: the conflict in the book is mostly internal. Gussie has been told she's not good enough since her family started climbing the social ladder and she rejected their wishes to be a compliant daughter in search of a wealthy husband. Her experiences in India force her to confront herself and her dreams and question whether it's time for a major change. But, it's also a nice, clean novel of romance and friendship and an examination of social constructs and how they impact individuals, particularly women. 

Bethany House is a Christian publisher, so there is some mention of God and Jesus. I didn't find it preachy, although there is an uptick in talk of Christianity and God's will for various characters that some might consider a little heavy-handed in the last 100 pages. I'm a Christian, so talk of faith and God's will, etc., doesn't bother me, although I did find it interesting that there were only a few vague references to God till that last quarter of the book. If that kind of thing bugs you, I think it's worth overlooking; the writing really swept me away and judging from the author's note, she did her research. I really loved the learning experience; I spent a lot of time looking up various sites, types of carriages, etc., on my phone, and there's more I want to look up that I put off while reading. I love that!

My thanks to Bethany House and Laurel Ann of Austenprose for the review copy! 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters is the story of three sisters who go to their ancestral homeland, India, to visit holy sites and perform various rituals in honor of their mother's dying wishes.

The beginning of the book reminded me of the first book I read by Jaswal, Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows. Although dying and in agony, the matriarch of the Shergill family is hilarious. She overhears the woman in the bed next to hers dictating a letter and gets the idea of doing something similar. Then, she realizes that if she asks her daughters to do something as a last request, they're much more likely to fulfill her wish because she's dying. So, she asks them to go to India together to do the things she longed to do, herself.

As we're getting to know the Shergill family, secrets are dangled. What's in the jewelry case Mrs. Shergill is afraid the nurses will find? What did Rajni do to cause her mother trouble when they made a trip to India, many years ago? Why did Jezmeen lose her job and what's up with her obsessive need to check for likes on YouTube? What drove Shirina into a marriage on the other side of the globe and what does her husband expect her to do before returning home from India?

Having written all that, I am suddenly realizing that I like this book more upon reflection than I did while reading it and that's absolutely not the author's fault. There were two things interfering with my enjoyment of reading The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters. One was that I was going through a slight reading slump and I probably should have just kept looking till I found something that broke the slump rather than continuing to read a book with the expectation that it would eventually pull me in. I think it was the fact that I so loved Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows and knew how beautifully Jaswal can pull together all the elements of a story that kept me going. And, she did indeed pull everything together to create a very satisfying ending.

The second problem I had was the fact that the mother was dying of cancer and then, after she died, the sisters kept reflecting back to her dying days and how much pain she was in. Since my mother died of cancer and I was there during her last months as caregiver, that hit a little too close to home. I would have had the latter problem regardless of when I read it. I just probably should have saved it for another day because of the not-grabbing-me thing. Having said all that, I enjoyed the elements and there were some wonderful scenes that I keep replaying in my head. Some of the secrets were a little too readily apparent, but I didn't care. Jaswal knows how to tell a story, how to keep you turning the pages and how to wrap things up in an immensely satisfying way. The timing may have been off for me, but I still appreciated The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters. And, I loved the ending.

Recommended - A story of three sisters getting to know each other, the family dynamics that led to the distance between them, and the imperfection of their journey versus the requests their mother made. While the way things went wrong was entertaining, I particularly enjoyed the growing relationship between the sisters as the book progressed and the way things were wrapped up in the end. One of the sisters had a problem that could have gone either way but the author chose the more satisfying ending for her, the one that required summoning a strength of character she didn't realize she had within her. Love Jaswal's writing and now that I've taken the time to look, I realize she has a backlist to delve into, as well. Wahoo for that!

I received an advance reader copy of The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters from HarperCollins. Many thanks! I'm labeling this a "road trip" book, although that's obviously a bit inaccurate since the sisters all have to fly to India and then they get local transport (taxis, the train, etc.) within India. It's about a journey, so . . . close enough. And, now that I've mentioned taxis I'm reminded of my favorite character in the book: Tom Hanks. You should read the book for Tom Hanks alone. He'll make you smile.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar is a sequel, so first things first . . . here's my review of the first book:

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

If you haven't read The Space Between Us, the ending might be a bit of a spoiler but it's necessary to mention the general concept before moving on. So, fair warning . . . I'm going to skip a line before talking about The Secrets Between Us to avoid spoiling it for anyone.

*******POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING********

Bhima has always been treated kindly by her long-term employer but at the same time she's been treated as if she's dirty, never allowed to sit on the furniture and made to squat on the floor while she had her tea. She cared for her employer's family as if they were her own. But, then she made a shocking discovery and she no longer works for Sera Dubash.

Now, she must find a way to support herself and her granddaughter, Maya. To do so, she finds not one but two new jobs, cleaning for a crazy woman she calls "Mrs. Motorcyclewalla" and a young woman. As with her old job, there are challenges. Mrs. Motorcyclewalla increasingly makes irrational demands of Bhima and seems to be growing more delusional each day. And, when her younger employer, Sunita, moves in a surprisingly open and untraditional roommate who has lived outside of India, Bhima is horrified by her unconventional nature.

When a neighbor in the slum is unexpectedly widowed, Bhima takes on a third job. Her neighbor's deceased husband had purchased some fruit. It can't be returned for cash; it must be sold to be of any value. So, Bhima agrees to find a way to help her sell the fruit. But, to do so, Bhima must find space at the market and a way to balance her other jobs -- and that means humbling herself to pay a bitter old woman to share her space. But, there's more to that older woman than meets the eye. As Bhima gets to know Parvati and work with both her and the man who used to carry her basket when she went to the market for her former employer, they slowly find that each has secrets from her past and pain that can never be fully vanquished. But, they also begin to forge a surprising friendship.

Highly recommended - I feel privileged to have read both The Space Between Us (12 years ago!) and The Secrets Between Us as ARCs. Both are harsh but uplifting stories, but The Secrets Between Us is extra special because it is the story of a makeshift family, one of my favorite types of story. The ending is so utterly perfect that I closed the book with shoulder-heaving sobs. It was everything I had always hoped for for Bhima and Maya. I recommend reading the two stories back-to-back as The Secrets Between Us picks up Bhima's story just days after the first book's ending and then jumps forward by a year. You'll understand Bhima and care for her deeply by the end of The Space Between Us and The Secrets Between Us will be much more meaningful if you read them together.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar is a book that I reread to familiarize myself with the story before moving on to The Secrets Between Us, the follow-up by the same author. Because I read The Space Between Us in 2006, just before I began blogging, I've never reviewed it anywhere beyond the website for HarperCollins' long-defunct First Look program, so I'm unable to link back to my thoughts at the time I first read it.

The Space Between Us is the story of Bhima and her relationship to her employer, Sera Dubash. Bhima has been working for Sera for 30 years. During that time, she has helped raise Sera's children, tended to the bruises inflicted by Sera's cruel husband and helped her through his death, cooked, shopped, cleaned. She's been a part of Sera's life and Sera has treated her well, yet looked down at Bhima as a resident of a Bombay slum, at the same time. Now, Bhima's granddaughter, Maya, has fallen pregnant. Sera has been paying for Maya's college education as a kindness to Bhima.

As Bhima tends to a granddaughter who is both depressed and suffering from morning sickness, she is often late for work and Sera is gradually becoming frustrated. The Dubash family encourages Bhima to take Maya for an abortion, the only way she can be saved from ruining her chances at finishing her education and hopefully improve her lot in life. While the present dilemma is described, the stories of both women unfold -- their marriages, hardships, and how the two women comforted each other through many crises. But, resentment is growing on both sides and when Bhima makes a shocking discovery, what will happen?

Highly recommended - Masterful storytelling. When I started reading The Space Between Us for the second time, I remembered more the feeling of the book than the story itself. I knew it had left me moved and uplifted, but beyond that I didn't remember a thing apart from where it was set and the fact that the main character had a rough life. So, I wasn't sure what to expect at all. Bhima's story is a tale of someone whose life gradually falls apart. She didn't begin her marriage in the slums and it's hard reading about the family's downfall. But, it ends on a glorious, hopeful note.

I think the most outstanding thing about The Space Between Us is the power of its shifting perspectives and the use of memories. Umrigar unfolds the two women's stories brilliantly, taking you back and forth in time to show their unfolding stories so seamlessly that you never get the sensation that you're leaping back and forth so much as the impression that the colors and dimensions of their lives and personalities are being filled in. Wonderful writing and I'm glad I had an excuse to revisit this story.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.