From Awesome Books. I liked Cutting for Stone so much I could not resist this.

If the country of India is not for the fainthearted. then neither is this book. A family saga, beginning with the marriage of a 12-year-old girl to an older man, a widower with a little boy to be looked after. It is set in the south of India, Madras on the east coast and what is now Kerala on the west, and examines an affliction that various members of the family suffer from, an aversion to water. It is a very interesting story with complex characters and horrific events.

I liked the character of Elsie, until she asked for the tree to be cut down. How much would have changed if she hadn't...

Oh but why is it written in the present tense? It makes the sentences sound so simplistic, and sometimes just wrong.

I need to look up the Indian words, mostly for food, that are given in italics but not explained (how about adding a glossary?). One of them is jeera water - jeera is cumin and I have taken to drinking it too as it seems to cure everything I suffer from. You just crush half a teaspoon of cumin seeds, cover with nearly boiling water, leave to soak overnight, strain off the seeds, add lemon juice (if you want to lose weight) and honey to taste, drink when you wake up.
724pp