Outcast
by Dianne Noble
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GENRE: Women's fiction
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BLURB:
In the daily struggle for
survival, she is often brought to her knees, but finds strength to overcome the
poverty and disease, grows to love the Dalit community she helps.
But then there are
deaths, and she fears for her own safety.
Her café at home is at
risk of being torched, and finally, she has to make the terrible choice between
her daughter and the Indian children.
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My Review:
This story is the courageous journey that a mother has taken from Cornwall to India to bring back her daughter at home but also to find herself. The author provides a realistic description of lives of poor people in India, it is impossible not to become attached to those sweet and unfortunate children.
Rose leaves Cornwall and ventures into a dangerous journey to India to find her daughter. In Kolkata is having to live in the Dalit community. They are very poor people but with a great enthusiasm and a lot of positivity. Her life becomes more complicated: in danger of losing her beloved cafe and especially her daughter.
It 's written wonderfully well, the style is very smooth, simple but brilliant and full of emotions. The descriptions are so vivid and realistic that really seems to be there. It's so compelling that a page leads to another. It doesn't really seem the debut novel of this author.
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EXCERPT:
A fierce white light burning her eyes. A silent wind tearing
at her skin, ripping her clothes, pitching her forward. A moment as long as
infinity when gravity deserted the world and the air was sucked away. And then
the terrible thunder of the explosion shaking the streets, vibrating the ground
beneath her.
She raised her head to see the hotel being sucked inwards on
itself with a roar, a whirlpool of glass and steel. Her tongue moved over her
dust coated lips. The metallic taste of blood. Felt her vital organs shrivel
with fear.
Kishan. Oh
my God, Kishan.
She struggled to her feet, broken glass crunching beneath
her flip flops. Felt the warm trickle of blood down her face, saw the
lacerations on her hands and arms. Looked through the black smoke at the hotel,
at the raging fire.
Kishan is
in there.
Started forward but there was no hotel, only a burning
crater. Bodies and pieces of bodies. Blood, already glossy with flies, running
down the street. Within a minute the sirens were screaming.
‘Go, go.’ The policeman waved his arms and those who could
stand began to stagger away. ‘Quick, quick.’
Is it
another bomb?
Frantic, she followed the others. A woman wailing. A child
silent with shock. An old man whose clothes hung in shreds, a white faced
pregnant woman. She stepped on a dismembered leg, blood and mush at one end, a
gold sandal at the other. Doubled over and vomited. As she straightened, wiping
her mouth on the back of her hand a small girl in pink knickers clutched on to
her arm. Rose looked at her blankly for a moment then remembered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
I am currently
writing a novel set in Cairo about a forced marriage, and re-editing an earlier
manuscript about an English woman trying to help the street children of
Kolkata, India.
Website - http://www.dianneanoble.site
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/dianneanoble
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/dianneanoble1
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Dianne
Noble will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via
rafflecopter during the tour.
What was the hardest part about writing Outcast?
RispondiEliminaProbably re-living it as I wrote. It was written from personal experience. I worked for several months with homeless street children in Kolkata and writing the novel reminded me of how distressed I had been there. On the plus side there were many happy incidents too! The children were very loveable and it was a life altering time for me.
EliminaHappy Friday and thanks so much for the chance to win your great giveaway
RispondiEliminaMy pleasure entirely. I hope you are successful!
RispondiEliminaI liked the excerpt.
RispondiEliminaThank you! It was a tragic part of the story where Rose had found love, only to lose it again. She goes on, however, to find an inner strength to enable her to continue her work.
EliminaI loved your review, makes me look forward to reading this one even more! :). Thanks for sharing.
RispondiEliminaEven though I say it myself it's a really good read with many layers. Different people's problems and journeys through life, India itself which is a book on its own.
EliminaI really enjoyed reading the excerpt, thank you!
RispondiEliminaIf you go on to Amazon you can probably read at least the first chapter for free. Tempt you even more! The story starts in Rose's café in Cornwall, England and she's just heard her daughter's gone missing.
Eliminathank you for the chance to win :)
RispondiEliminaThank you for the giveaway and all the work put into this.
RispondiEliminaGood Monday morning and start of a great week. Thanks for the chance to win
RispondiEliminaI enjoyed reading the excerpt. This book sounds like such an interesting and intriguing read. Looking forward to checking out this book.
RispondiEliminaThank you for your honest review. I am really enjoying the book tour. Thank you for the giveaway! And for all the father's who may come across this post I would like to wish them a Happy Father's Day! :)
RispondiElimina