Review: The Girl in the Garden

The Girl in the Garden by Kamala Nair

Copy Courtesy of NetGalley and Hachette Book Group
Release Date: 6/15/2011

Summary
Rakhee leaves a letter with her ring for her fiance and quietly slips out of bed to go to India. In the letter is a story detailing the reason she doesn't talk about her mother. It's a story about a very young Rakhee and her family, whose secrets threaten to destroy everything the family has worked for. What could have possibly happened to Rakhee that the scars still haunt her to this day?

Commentary
What strikes me most about Girl in the Garden is its beginning. Kamala (the author) introduces everything and everyone so beautifully that I felt like I had fallen into her story world and was surprised to find myself on the couch.

The suspense in this mystery novel starts with some mysterious letters which arrive from India and slowly winds itself tighter and tighter. Parts of the mystery were revealed little by little, and I felt myself really wanting to know what happened. It is therefore unfortunate that the reveals didn't quite live up to the grand suspense. There was definitely a certain amount of suspension of disbelief for the explanations given.

This is not a bad read, but I didn't feel like the ending fit with the rest of the story thus making the rest of the story feel more melodramatic than it might have. In particular, I didn't feel that the story told justified Rakhee leaving behind her ring when she goes off to India.

Star Rating: 2.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

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