The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi

This is Trezza Azzopardi’s debut novel, shortlisted for The Booker Prize in 2000.  Set in the Maltese community of 1960s Cardiff the story is about the Gauci family, Frank and Mary and their six daughters.   Although there are multiple viewpoints, most of the story is told through the eyes of the youngest daughter, five year old Dolores.  Life is tough, the family are poor and Frank is a gambler with a violent temper.  The family learn to survive any way they can. It is a story about migration, acceptance and sibling relationships.  The book is in two parts – part one is about the events in Dolores’s early childhood, where the author paints a realistic picture of a world seen through the eyes of a child.  Part two is about the sisters reuniting for the funeral of their mother thirty years later.  Dolores is driven by the need to fit in, to know her story and to belong.  The sibling rivalry is still there even after thirty years and we see the sisters recalling events from their early childhood showing how the interpretation of a five year old is different to that of an older child.  Yet, their memories are a bond that ties them, despite their years apart.  I like stories about families, particularly sisters.  It is a gritty read, but even though it is dark, I didn’t find it depressing.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be looking out for other novels by the same author.  

The Immortals by Amit Chaudhuri

Set in Bombay in the 1980s, the story charts the relationship between two families, from different casts, linked by their love of classical Indian music.  Mallika Sengupta is the wife of a wealthy businessman and mother to Nirmalya.  She is a talented singer, but chose not to pursue her musical dream and to focus her energies on being a wife of a successful businessman.  She hasn’t cut her ties with music altogether and wants her son, Nirmalya to learn her craft.  She employs Shyamji, the son of an acclaimed classical Indian musician to teach her teenage son. Nirmalya hates his parent’s corporate world and is searching for fulfilment, which he finds through his love of music and his relationship with Shyamji and his family.  I enjoyed the observations of life in Bombay and the interactions between the two families.    I enjoyed the beautiful prose, but prefer a pacier read.