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Title: The Arctic Curry ClubAuthor: Dani ReddFormat reviewed: EbookSource: NetgalleyPublisher: AvonPublication Date: 9th December 2021Rating: 5 Stars
‘For my whole life I had been looking for home. But why would that be in a place that I’d left? Perhaps I had to keep moving forward in order to find it…’
Soon after upending her life to accompany her boyfriend Ryan to the Arctic, Maya realises it’s not all Northern Lights and husky sleigh rides. Instead, she’s facing sub-zero temperatures, 24-hour darkness, crippling anxiety – and a distant boyfriend as a result.
In her loneliest moment, Maya opens her late mother’s recipe book and cooks Indian food for the first time. Through this, her confidence unexpectedly grows – she makes friends, secures a job as a chef, and life in the Arctic no longer freezes her with fear.
But there’s a cost: the aromatic cuisine rekindles memories of her enigmatic mother and her childhood in Bangalore. Can Maya face the past and forge a future for herself in this new town? After all, there’s now high demand for a Curry Club in the Arctic, and just one person with the know-how to run it…
A tender and uplifting story about family, community, and finding where you truly belong – guaranteed to warm your heart despite the icy setting!
I can't believe this is a debut novel. It feels so accomplished and had me completely enthralled early on.
The Arctic and curry are not necessarily two things you would expect to fit together so well but yet everything about this book just works.
The descriptions of the Arctic in winter, the never ending darkness, the cold, the dog sledding and snowmobiling are all there and presented so vividly.
And then there are other equally impressive sections set well not in the Arctic but also conjure up the sense of that place so impressively.
Then there is the mental health theme running through the book that I'd dealt with sensitively, and I really felt for Maya at times. Especially when more of her family history is discovered.
And then there is food, and the descriptions left my mouth watering and feeling like I could smell the aromas and spices.
It wouldn't be the Arctic without some wildlife and there is a rather memorable scene involving something whiter and more savage than your average Teddy bear!!!
I've always been a sucker for a book with an exotic location and you can't get much more different to regular life than the Arctic. This gave a wonderful feeling of what life in the Arctic must be like in winter that transported me from the comfort of my garden. Somehow I ended up reading this in a rare hot day in September and not curled up in front of a fire all cosy are you are more likely to be!!
A gem of a book and I'm excited to see what the author will write next.
Thank you to Avon and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily,
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