This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

This is a lovely novel about Jyothi, a young woman, who wants to know her past. She's a talented musician and her adoptive parents have loved her to no end but she's haunted. No spoilers from me but this is a well done novel that hits a topical issue.

a well written and told book with a story that will stay with you for a while after finishing this book. I really enjoyed this book.

The Orphan of India is the first book by Sharon Maas that I have read and won't be my last. An emotional and beautifully written story about adoption.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. The beginning of this book felt a bit rushed to me, the second half was better but I just never got that connection to the characters that I wanted to have.

This is the second Sharon Mass book that I've read and it certainly won't be the last.
To be honest, I found the beginning of the book slow and it wasn't engaging me at all but once the story actually unfolded I was hooked.
We read about a young childless couple who arrive in India, seeking something to fill in the void of emptiness..
Both having come from different walks of life, their union had difficulties from the start. In India they thought their problems would be solved.
Working for a charity they need to find a cause...they soon stumble upon a little girl, who's a street beggar.
She to an incident their lives change drastically and they become a unit. We read that voids are not always easy to fill and as one void is filled another one opens.
From India to England we read how lives change but memories don't disappear that easily.
Lots of great descriptions, love and loyalty all come to blows in this powerful book.

Another brilliant book by Sharon Maas. This is a standalone story. It's the mid 1970's and married couple Monika and Jack can't have children so decide to adopt. Monika has joined a new charity who wish to help deserving children in India. She and Jack travel to there to asses where the charity can do most good. In Bombay they fall in love with a five year old Indian girl called Jyothi and when her mother dies, they decide to adopt her. The story is mostly told from Jyothi's insight as she struggles in England, with relationships, the culture, her music and love. This is a great story taking the reader on a fantastic journey.

A lovely story showing how truly awful life can be for the poor in India and how a couple desperate for a child stumble across a little girl and adopt her. This covers the story of when they discover her and the journey of her grief and what happens following her adoption with 2 very different parents

This was a very interesting story that kept my interest throughout. Monika and Jack Kingsley a British couple who always wanted a child of their own, but for some reason they could not conceive one, but while traveling in India, they fell in love with a street child name Jyothi, who lives with her family in a makeshift home near the hotel where they were staying. While they are there, Jyothi's mother is hit by a car and dies, leaving her an orphan.
Monika and Jack finally are able to adopt her and they eventually take her back to England where, everything is so different for her and she has a lot to get used to. Her new parents noticed while in India that she had a love of music and both Jack and Monika played instruments, so they got Jyothi interested in playing the violin, which was her savior in many ways, but she has to experience so much before she is actually able to thrive in her life, and to feel she is a worthy person..
Great characters, and a story that has a lot going on. You will not be bored reading this book. I really love the authors style of writing, very descriptive and she makes you root for the main character and you feel for her as she goes through her many struggles.
I have read a couple of her books already and will definitely follow her writing.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

Riveting historical fiction! This novel masterfully delved into the complexities of transracial adoption with nuanced insight. It offered a unique perspective on the conceptualisation of talent too.

I have read several of Sharon Maas' books and have enjoyed them, particularly the Quint series so I was curious and excited about reading this book as well.

This book is about Jyothi, a little girl living in a slum in India, who is adopted by Monika and Jack. The descriptions of the conditions that this little girl and her family live under, were very interesting to me as I have never been to India and I could almost see, hear and smell it through the author's descriptions. It turns out that Jyothi is a musical prodigy and with both Monika and Jack being musical themselves, they encourage her love of music, even though she can't actually read sheet music.

There is a lot more to the book than this though; it is about a girl who is transported to a completely foreign country, it is about trauma and how people overcome it, it is about listening to your heart even though your head is confusing the messages.....this is a very complex story indeed!

I liked the character of Jyothi and I really felt for her because she had so much to contend with. However, towards the end of the book I got a little confused about the character, and I kind of felt like shouting at her a bit too because she became super angsty plus she was really belabouring the point about her feelings and that kind of thing. The ending was lovely :)

Anyway, I liked this book, I gave it a 3.5 stars because I really liked the majority of it, but I found Jyothi's character not as easy to relate to as, say, Winnie, who had much more warmth.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. Thank you to NetGalley.

Jyothi is a young Indian girl who's family has fallen on hard times so when and English couple Monika and Jack meet her and fall in love with her they adopt her and take her back to England

Struggling at first with her new family and grieving for her old Jyothi finds solace when she is introduced to music and it becomes the love her life, the way that she can really express herself, so where would she be if she lost that!

I enjoyed the story but did feel it was a bit long winded but loved the descriptions of India, making me want to travel there and experience it

My first book by this author. The writing was very atmospheric and transported you to the streets of India. Really felt for Jyothi - for all the things she had endured at such a young age and then to be uprooted and moved to the UK. Although it is set in an entirely different country this book reminded me of Dinah Jefferies and The Tea Planter's Wife. An evocative book and something a bit different to what I normally read - will definately read more by this author in order to be transported to another far away place.

I enjoy reading books set in other countries and this seemed a good holiday read to me. I was not disappointed.
The descriptions and details are good although I have never been to India, it sounded realistic. At times I am not sure I could believe how the story line was developing. Can a young girl really have lost two mothers in separate car accidents? However the story is colourful and eventually it is easy to get carried away with the plot. it is not really predictable and that was a good thing. The book tells the story of a young girl adopted from India then bought back to England. Jyothi is an only child and her childhood is unusual. She has much to deal with. This book was a relaxing read.

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

Monika and Jack are determined to adopt Jyothi whom the find on a charity trip to India, she parentless and lives in abject poverty. They bring Jyothi to England who then struggles to adapt to her new environment.

This book was okay, the style of writing was a bit inflated. When the point of view is not first person, I find it more difficult to care for the characters.

3☆

I had a hard time getting into this book. Since I did not finish it, I do not intend to publish a review.

Ok I admit it- this is the first book by Sharon Maas but I have heard lots of good things about her from well respected bloggers and other authors, so I just knew that I would love this book. I was immediately intrigued by the bright cover and by the synopsis. When I was offered the chance to take part in the blog tour for ‘The Orphan Of India’, I jumped at it.

I don’t really want to write too much about the storylines as I have a nasty habit of giving far too much away about books that I love (oops) and I don’t want to spoil the enjoyment of this book for anybody who chooses to read it. The synopsis says it all really. Jyothi is the youngest child in her family and she witnesses a fatal accident, which leaves her mother dead. Not long after the accident a childless couple called Monika & Jack Kingsley decide that they want to adopt Jyothi, who has been surrendered to the care of the orphanage by her father. The adoption takes place and the new family return to live in England. However, problems start to emerge and cracks begin to show as Jyothi finds it increasingly hard to adapt to live in a foreign country and all that entails. At the same time the marriage of Monika and Jack comes under an increasing amount of strain. In order to cope with this and with her increasing sense of loneliness Jyothi throws herself into her music. Jyothi has a lot of musical talent but even this doesn’t help, as she still feels as though she doesn’t belong. A romantic affair leads her to realise that before she can embrace her future she has to confront her past. What will happen to Jyothi, Monika and Jack? Will Jyothi find happiness that she so deserves? Will Jyothi be able to come to terms with the cultural differences in this country? Will Jyothi keep in touch with her birth family? Well you will just have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.

I really liked the character of Jyothi. From a young age, she has experienced poverty, hardship, loss, abuse and child labour. Jyothi is involved in the accident which leads to her mother’s death. I get the sense that Jyothi wants to be happy but she does not want to be separated from her family. Jyothi’s adoption goes through and despite the high hopes for her new life, Jyothi struggles to settle and to adapt to a whole new country and culture. I do think that perhaps her adoptive parents Monika and Jack could have been a bit more sympathetic towards her culture and helped her to maintain links with her home country. Not only that but Jyothi faces prejudice in her new home country from those around her. I got the impression that Jyothi is one confused little girl. As for Monika and Jack. Well hmmm. I know that I don’t have children but I can understand their yearning for a child. They want a family but for one reason and another the couple are unable to conceive. Monika & Jack become so blinkered that they can only focus on the adoption and plough ahead with it without fully realizing the potential implications. I got the impression that Monika is a rather selfish woman. She decides to work with the charity in India but I was unsure as to her true motives. I also got the impression that Monika thought that the adoption would be straight forward with not a lot of appreciation as to the potential problems and pitfalls. Monika seems to be a woman, who wants to be a mother and places that at the top of her priority list. Jack on the other hand seems to be so laid back he is almost horizontal which is in stark contrast to Monika, who always seems to be tense and impatient. Jack loves to play music.

In my opinion this book is really well written. The author has clearly done an awful lot of research and has an acute attention to detail. Sharon Maas certainly knows how to draw your attention from the very first word on the very first page and keeps your attention until the very last word on the very last page. I find that this book is a real ‘CPID’ (can’t put it down) book and it came everywhere with me, as I was desperate to read on to see what the future held for Jyothi, Monika and Jack and whether or not Jyothi would get the happy ever after that she so deserved. The author uses such powerful and emotive language in her descriptions of India and of the different characters that I really felt like I was an invisible bystander on the streets of India and experiencing all of the sights, sounds and smells. India is now well and truly on my bucket list of places to visit before I die. I really did feel as though I had been through a rollercoaster of emotions, ,whilst reading this book, with all the heartache, joy, pain, tears, tense and heartbreaking moments. It’s just as well I had a box of tissues to hand as I really did need them. At times I found it hard to turn the page- not because the book is not well written, that could hardly be further from the truth but because I feared what was going to happen next.

In short, and in case you hadn’t already gathered, I really did LOVE this book and I can’t wait to read the next book by this very talented author. Sharon Maas is now on my list of favourite authors. I would definitely recommend this book to others. I award this book 5* out of 5*.

We follow the story of Jyoti – told first by her adoptive, British parents who cross Jyoti’s path in Bombay, India in the wake of a tragedy. Subsequently they are able to follow an exhausting procedure and bring the little Indian girl lawfully to England as theirs.

However, Monika and Jack were never the ideal couple. Jack is a talented musician and teaches Jyoti, who has a natural love for music. Monika is side-lined, then their marriage starts to go badly wrong and their dreams of having a child of their own may not, it seems, be sufficient to stop things going off the rails.

Jyoti will come into her own as a gifted violin player. As readers, we know her first love is for the sitar (an Indian instrument) and her private longing to play Indian music versus her success as a classical violin player, is handled masterfully by the author. Through this, we are shown Jyoti’s struggle with her life in England versus her roots in India.

Jyoti also has difficulties in her love life. As a little girl she falls for a young man who later comes back to her once she is rich and famous. They seem ideally suited, but what of the Indian sitar player who also entranced her? How can she ever reconcile her feelings for two men and two continents?

Jyoti must endure terrible losses and find a way to overcome her inner feelings of coming from nothing and capitalise on her strengths. This is the part of the story which most captured my imagination and Maas deals with it sensitively and with profound insight. A very well written book in a literary style, that is far more than it seems.

Now, I’m not always a fan of comparisons, but I’d really like to add another favourite to that list. Many will already know that I’m a massive fan of Lucinda Riley (I even spent my 60th birthday in Rio because I was so enchanted by The Seven Sisters… ). For those times when Lucinda might not be writing quickly enough – well, I’ve definitely discovered an author in Sharon Maas who impressed me for all the same reasons, and I’m really looking forward to reading more from her.

I’ve often said that for a good book to become a book I love, it needs to capture my heart – and that’s exactly what happened with this thoroughly gorgeous book. But not only my heart – all my other senses too.

The writing is just beautiful – descriptions of India replete with smells, tastes, colours and sounds, and the music flowing through the story so perfectly described that, at times, the reader can almost hear it and feel all the emotions associated with it. And what a story – Jyothi had a place in my heart from the moment she danced amid the squalor, and I ached for her as she struggled to cope after the death of her mother. Rescued from the slums of Bombay, she’s then transplanted to England as the much-wanted child of a less than perfectly matched couple: Monika and Jack, both imperfect in their different ways, were superbly drawn, and I loved watching their relationships with Jyothi develop. The love story that builds at the book’s centre – childhood infatuation developing into adult passion – is totally and utterly convincing, beautiful but heartbreaking. And Jyothi’s quest for identity quite consumed me – her adoption of a stronger persona, when inside she remains a frightened little girl. And the music… just perfect.

This isn’t really a review, is it? I’m just telling you how much I loved it – and, I hope, some of the reasons why. When I read the final pages, leaving it was a real wrench. But if, like me, you like your reading to be an escape – a few blissful hours when you can forget everything else and immerse yourself in a totally different world – don’t miss this one, whatever you do.

This is the first Sharon Maas book that I have read but how I have fallen in love with this lady’s beautiful descriptions of far away locations that I have never been to. The thing is yes I could go there now but I wouldn’t see this India. Sharon Maas has captured an era that only existed then as any moment can only ever exist once.
It is 1977 in the village of Maharashtra India where it is almost like time has stood still as Jyothi a tiny slip of a 5 year old girl, is already learning the ways of her mother’s daily work. A bundle of clothing on her head to be returned to the big house where the rich family lives and more dirty washing collected and scrubbed by hand. Today would change everything from the enchanting and enticing music that Jyothi would hear and near forget, to the sign of the times as India began to move into a more modern mixed culture. A simple washing machine that this wealthy family have bought would have a rippling affect on Jyothi’s family and a sudden move to Bombay for work.
Three years later fate is to throw together a British couple, desperate for a child and tragic circumstances that make Jyothi an orphan.  Through sheer determination the couple battle to adopt her and bring her back to England to raise her.  Academically Jyothi struggles terribly in school but can play music pitch perfect after hearing it only once and soon becomes sort after as a prodigy with the violin. She is even given a new name of Jade for stage performances with only her adoptive parents keeping her birth name alive.
Oh my poor little poppet she is in emotional turmoil. Sharon Maas takes you to a small window in time where it was thought acceptable for childless couples to be able to take babies and children from their culture and pat themselves on the back and turn it round so that they were doing the family or the child a huge favour by taking them and exporting them like a prize piece of pottery. There was no thought given to language differences, culture and diet or in this case being brought into a racial environment that the child would find isolating.
This is Jyothi’s story through childhood and partial adult life. Her lost culture and roots and a past she must face before she can really belong in her own skin. This is a very deep and meaningful story as Sharon Maas writes with her heart on her sleeve with every nerve ending of Jyothi striped back. Loved this book.