'Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home is nestled in the quiet suburb of Westgrove, Sydney – populated with residents with colourful histories, each with their own secrets, triumphs and failings. This is their safe place, an oasis of familiar delights – a beautiful garden, a busy kitchen and a bountiful recreation schedule.
'But this ordinary neighbourhood is not without its prejudices. The serenity of Cinnamon Gardens is threatened by malignant forces more interested in what makes this refuge different rather than embracing the calm companionship that makes this place home to so many. As those who challenge the residents’ existence make their stand against the nursing home with devastating consequences, our characters are forced to reckon with a country divided.
'Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is about family and memory, community and race, but is ultimately a love letter to story-telling and the relationships we form through the stories we tell.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
'When Shankari Chandran sent the manuscript for her first novel to Australian publishers, it was unanimously rejected, on the grounds that her story was not sufficiently "Australian" to succeed in the local market. This was despite the fact that its author was Australian and its protagonists are three generations of Australian Tamil women living in Sydney.' (Introduction)
'“Race and racial identity and what it means to be Australian and who gets to decide that … that has been a part of my life here, for my entire life …,” says Western Sydney author Shankari Chandran. “I’ve thought about it a lot but never had the courage to write about it.”' (Introduction)
'Set in both modern-day western Sydney and the Sri Lankan civil war, Shankari Chandran’s latest novel is sprawling but unbalanced'
'“Race and racial identity and what it means to be Australian and who gets to decide that … that has been a part of my life here, for my entire life …,” says Western Sydney author Shankari Chandran. “I’ve thought about it a lot but never had the courage to write about it.”' (Introduction)
'When Shankari Chandran sent the manuscript for her first novel to Australian publishers, it was unanimously rejected, on the grounds that her story was not sufficiently "Australian" to succeed in the local market. This was despite the fact that its author was Australian and its protagonists are three generations of Australian Tamil women living in Sydney.' (Introduction)
