So wonderful! I was so enjoyed the characters and settings in this story. The family was so realistic portrayed. I loved the back story in Russia and the travel through India. Lovely tale. Just right for a winter's read. Highly recommend it.

DNF - June 2017, stopped at 12%

The writing and dialog felt stilted. The story can switch from one persons perspective to another with the changing of a paragraph, which makes it confusing.

I realised that I just didn't care anything for any of the characters and hadn't felt any emotional depth to them even with the traumatic events at the beginning of the story.

I always enjoy culturally diverse literature and enjoyed this book as well. It was a bit slow-paced but the characters were well-developed.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my ARC copy for a fair and honest review.

This gem of a novel is the story of lost love, tragedy and self-discovery all through the eyes of Mother and daughter Eva and Dee Singh. After the loss of Eva's husband and Dee's beloved father Prakash Singh in a tragic accident the two women embark on journey across India. Dee to find her father's long lost family and Eva to fulfill one of her husband's wishes.

The scenery, throughout the novel, across current-day India Moscow in the late 1970's, is beautifully described, allowing for one to be transported to those places and not only see but feel them.

The women do seem to have a, generally speaking, good trip with a few interesting twists in the plot that I had not expected. I was too wrapped up in the scenery to catch on! I also really enjoyed the cast of characters throughout the novel and found them all well developed.

It was a long novel, but I was engrossed in the story and had a difficult time putting it down, making the time fly by. Beautiful novel and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future!

I really enjoyed this book although it did take a while to get into it. The descriptions of India were wonderful and the bond between mother and daughter was expertly written. All in all a very good read which I would recommend whole heartedly.

This book blew me away – an emotional and captivating portrait into the life of a family whose happiness is shattered by a tragic family event that ultimately leads to a journey of self discovery. A Present from India is a joy for the senses and is a colourful and exciting read with vivid characters colours and landscapes. The book takes us from 1970s Russia to India in 2014 by way of England and is a book that will capture the hearts of anyone who loves a great family drama with some romance and travel mixed in. It is like a journey in itself. Thank you so much to the publisher and author via NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book. The book's plot will stay with me for a very long time. Amazing! Would give it more than 5 stars if I could!

Quite a gentle slow paced book. Flips between life as a student in 70's Russia and a trip to current day India. Both parts were as interesting as each other and overall it was a good read.

A really interesting concept, even though it might have been very strange for a person to be in Russia in the 1970's with 2 boyfriends who are both Indian - 1 in UK and 1 in Russia. I was also bemused by the reference to airbrushing photos in the 1970's - was it common then? Also, how likely would it have been to 'bump' into a half-sister without knowing about her in a country the size of India? However, I did enjoy reading this book and warmed to the characters and loved the travels in India as I have been there myself and recognised many of the quirks of the country and people.

when I started reading this book, It did not hook me, and that remained till the end of the book. The main characters of the book were mother whose name was Eva and her half Indian half English daughter Dee. I really admired Eva’s character in this book. She was like old wise owl, I liked that, at least now she was wise and made good decisions.(what I wouldn’t say about her study days) Unfortunately I found Dee quite stupid and annoying, with her silly decisions and being stubborn with those not logical wishes she makes in the book. Because of these real life character features I found them both to be very realistic and believable, there are many mixed marriages in the UK and I liked the diversity of the characters.
As it was mentioned in the description, there are two stories told of two generations. It is the trip to India which is happening at present and a time spent in Moscow in 1977. I really loved reading about Eva's time in Moscow; it was really interesting to me. I enjoyed all the details author told about Moscow. I think that's where authors experience comes in, she studied in Moscow during seventies herself, that's why she was able to portray the city and the atmosphere of those days quite accurate. The relationship Chandra was having with Eva was really complicated and for me it kept the suspense going, that's why I used to get excited once those chapters used to come up. Unfortunately the Indian trip was not very interesting to read for me. I think in many places there was too much detail which was not necessary. What drinks they had and what food they ate, I was not very interested in that. The characters wanted to see real India, but what was written in the book was far from the real India. Living in a hotel and travelling first class is not real India experience. It seemed like a tour which maybe Author had, to share the experience, but as person who saw and lived everyday India, I can assure it’s not like it was in the book. Even though I didn't really enjoy the parts of India voyage, it made me want to take my mother there. I liked the relationship which Eva and Dee shared during that trip. I liked the writing style of this novel; it has this lovely English way: refined and polite, avoiding conflict. I really liked the ending of this book. It was much unexpected to me and made sense why the novel was written in the way it was. So to conclude, if you never visited India and have interest in Soviet history, you will enjoy this book and will find some exotic places and interesting way of living in 1970ties Russia.

This was a good story of love lost and a family searching for answers. Mother and daughter Eva and Dee Singh decide to go on a trip to India, from England where they live. Eva has just lost her husband and Dee her father to an accident. Eva is a British woman who was married to Dr. Prakash Singh, who's family was originally from India, and as a family they had planned to go there one day to see his native country.
This story goes back and forth during two time periods, 1976-1977 where Eva is a college student, studying Russian in Moscow, and where she meets another Indian man also a student there, named Chandra and with whom she has a romance for the time they are there.
Now in present day India, Eva and Dee are searching for different things, Dee for a link to her fathers family, as they had no close relatives as she was growing up, and of course to visit her fathers homeland, which they were to have done together. Eva also had the wish to see where her loving husband had come from and see the places he had wanted to go, but out of curiosity she also wanted to look up her old love from her college days in Russia, Chandra.
It was fun to learn about the students life in Russia and to hear about the people studying there and the different places they all came from and the camaraderie and friendships that developed there. It was a time that love interests were formed and lost when their studies came to an end.
The descriptions of the places the mother and daughter visit in India was wonderful, from the scenery, to the food and shops of colorful clothing. Eva and Dee did not always see eye to eye on things they wanted to accomplish, but the mystery of the journey was fun to experience.
I want to thank NetGalley and Matador for the ARC of this book.

4 Stars

Dr. Prakash Singh died tragically after falling from a ladder and was the father of Dee and the husband of Eva. At the memorial service, Dee expresses a wish to go to India. Surprisingly, Eva would like to go too. Although the two women have very different reasons for going – Eva wants to track down an old flame, Chandra, and Dee wants to find some long lost Singh relatives. She feels cut off from her father’s side of the family and wants to meet them. The problem is that Singh is a very common name in India – where does one start looking?

This book goes back and forth between 1976-1977 and 2014. 1976 is when Eva first met Chandra at a Russian language school in Moscow, USSR. There were several students there learning not only Russian, but all languages.

When they get there to India, Dee wants to experience the “real” India. It becomes somewhat of a joke between the two women. They see crowds, are intimidated by the hectic traffic, experience fabulous hotels, beach huts, and awful slums. They see the real India.

The reason that Eva’s lukewarm on Dee’s Singh search comes as a shock – although perhaps it shouldn’t have.

This book is marvelously written and is an interesting travelogue on India. I have had little experience of India and have never been there so this book was a refreshing view of the people and the culture.

I want to thank Netgalley and Matador for forwarding to me a copy of this nice book to read.