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Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

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Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

By: Shankari Chandran
Narrated by: Rachael Tidd
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About this listen

Welcome to Cinnamon Gardens, a home for those who are lost and the stories they treasure.

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 storytelling and how our stories shape who we are.

‘An engrossing, urgent, warm, wise and utterly, utterly beautiful novel.' Emily Maguire, bestselling author of An Isolated Incident and Love Objects

‘Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens filled this reviewer's heart with both hope and rage at witnessing history repeat itself, while somehow preserving optimism about how communities can be rebuilt.' Books + Publishing

©2021 Shankari Chandran (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd & Ultimo Press South Asian Creators World Literature Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking
All stars
Most relevant
Shankari Chandran deserves the Miles Franklin award for the well written yarn on the transgenerational traumas of families, cultures and identities set amidst dislocation and forced migrations. I was caught by surprise by the climactic end of the story.
I have two criticisms - I thought the issue of racism in the final part of the story was handled heavy handedly - it resorted to polemics and polarised debate that might have taken place between the Proud Boys and a third sociology class on colonial racism - the polemics leaves the characters with little space to move or shift their views.
My second point is feedback to audible in relation to non-Asian narrators doing very bad South Asian accents. Rachel Tidd’s attempts sounded like the accents that white people use when they making fun of south Asians. Audible should make more use of bi-lingual readers , or two readers, unless they have the talents of Dev Patel who can do equally convincing English, Indian and Australian accents.
Despite these criticisms, this story is worth telling and hearing.

Great story by a talented writer

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What a masterpiece of writing! This work of art certainly needs to be heard, its message loud and clear! I felt the blood curdling pain, the deep trauma of the Sri Lankan history in this wonderfully New Australian woven story, told honestly, emotionally, and intelligently. Racial apartheid attitudes are placed in the readers' lap throughout the pages. Hopefully, it will inspire and challenge the reader to look deep into their own racial prejudices and turn them into deep reverence and compassion for imigrants in general but in this case for the SriLankan characters in the book and beyond.
In a perfect world, I really wished there was a real nursing home like Cinnamon Gardens, and they lived happily ever after.
I am hungry for more from this author.
It's a 5 star 🌟 must read!

Brilliant 👏

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Absolutely loved this book. Migrant literature at its best. The human stories, history and stark realism this book portrays moved me deeply. Excellent narration with the right accents and inflections.

A Masterpiece

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It’s been a while since a story challenged and resounded with me the way that this one has. The themes of colonisation, prejudice, violence and racism as seen from different perspectives are confronting but necessary. Definitely worth reading/listening to. I’m recommending it to my book club.

Detailed and thought provoking

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The language grows a world familiar to Australians of all backgrounds. Australia at its human best and worst. Wise and compassionate the spirit of narration is well matched with the voice of the reader. Thought provoking, informative and entertaining.

Speaking truth through fiction

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It took me a long time to get into this book and I almost gave up. Im so glad I didn’t. I love this story so well written and admirably performed by the narrator.

The accurate portrayal of racism

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I enjoy this book however it wasn’t what I expected. I was looking for something light to read and this had to much truth in it to be a throw away novel.

The author weaved a tale that told the story of different places and different peoples that was sometimes sweet, sometimes shocking and always very human.

It was life in all its messy complexity, a reflection of not only an individual’s self identity but collective identity and how perceived (or real) threat can lead to both acts of selfless and compassion or incomprehensible evil.

The characters have depth which reflects the human experience of being imperfect, making mistakes, experience of loss and suffering, joy and hope, struggles with self identity and collective identify and navigating that in the context of inherited history and modern life.

I would like to say, the book probably should come with a warning for those who have experience trauma. I absolutely believe we need to bare witness to the experiences but for some who know those experience first hand, just be prepared and remember this is fiction to take of yourself.

I am a richer person for having navigated the more difficult parts of the story and recognising the shared human experience. I am also left wondering about place, history, identity, the present and future with a slightly different perspective than I had before. For that, I am grateful.

Real characters who have important stories to share.

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Wonderful book, great characters, highlights Australia’s great shame in our treatment of migrants and reminds us of our even greater shame in our theft of this country from the indigenous people

Fabulous book, highly recommend

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Some stories change the way you experience the world. This is one of them. The storytelling is exceptional.

Exceptional storytelling

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I love books about history, it was very interesting to listen too. Characters were great. But I did feel sorry for Gareth & felt that he was wrongly portrayed as a grieving father & husband. He was just left suffering at the end. But then the book end in a kind of sad note, not a happy ending maybe I’m used to reading

What happened to Gareth?

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