SOMEONE ELSE'S GARDEN
Someone Else's Garden
Dipika Rai
UK & Commonwealth rights: HarperCollins
US rights: HarperCollins
Italian rights: Piemme
All other rights available
"Hitting pitch-perfect notes of grandeur and despair, first time novelist Dipika Rai transforms the brutal life of a young woman in rural India into a lyrical saga both heart-breaking and rewarding." - The Straits Times
"Beautifully written ... (with) depth of feeling" - Publishers' Weekly
"A detailed examination of Indian philosophy and values, refracted through the eyes of a young woman who attempts to break away from long-established attitudes toward women. It is also a universal story of good-versus-evil and tradition-versus-modernity as well as of the redemptive power of belief." - Booklist
“A brave and ambitious first novel set in rural India, Someone Else's Garden deals frankly with the brutality faced by many women and tells the story of how one woman achieves redemption.” – Sam Miller, author of Delhi, Adventures in a Megacity
“This epic and panoramic multigenerational saga captures the ancient wisdom, contemporary anguish and a vision for a hopeful future that describes the India of the late 20th century. An extraordinary debut.” – Raj Sisodia, Chairman Conscious Capitalism Institute
“Dipika Rai turns rural India into a setting for an epic tale of love and loss that feels timeless and familiar.” - Jamal Mahjoub, author of The Drift Latitudes and Travelling with Djinns
"Powerfully affecting and uplifting, set against a vivid and colorful background of Eastern life, Dipika Rai’s Someone Else’s Garden transcends geographical divides and cultural chasms to brilliantly expose the commonality of the human condition, compelling us to seek answers within ourselves to humanity’s eternal questions: Is life random? Do we have a destiny?" - www.reviewsbymolly.com
"It should probably go without saying that Rai's writing is superb, becuase how else could a writer evoke such strong empotions from me? I feel as though I am a fly on the wall of the mud hut that Mamta lives in. I can feel the helplessness, sadness, and acceptance of these characters, and I am disturbed by it all." - jennylovestoread.blogspot.com
Spanning half a century, Someone Else's Garden is an epic tale of mothers and daughters and of love and rejection which explores the essence of abject cruelty and flawless goodness that defines the Indian soul.
A farm girl and eldest of seven children, Mamta learns early on what it means to be born female in rural India. We follow her as she flees the horrors of her arranged marriage and the village to make a home for herself in a small city. Eventually saved from becoming one of the nameless and faceless millions of rejected humanity by a sublime love, Mamta survives and triumphs to become an example of a complete soul, empowered, responsible and inspiring humanity in others. Sharing her life journey, experiences and connections with a host of characters including her mentoring mother Lata Bai, the saintly Lokend Bhai, her ever-loving brother Prem, the soul-searching bandit Daku Manmohan and the brutal landlord Ram Singh, we are compelled to seek answers within ourselves to questions that have remained unchanged over time.
Someone Else's Garden transcends geographical divides and cultural chasms to expose the commonality of the human condition. Set against a backdrop of caste divides, banditry, female prejudice and vigorous colour, it is more than just Mamta’s personal story. It is also a story of redemption … of belief in the power of that hidden higher self which stays true no matter how crippling the circumstances or how great the loss.
Dipika Rai was born and educated in India, one of four children. Her gypsy spirit was cultivated at a young age when she travelled throughout the country in a trusty Ambassador with her family, bumping into all sorts of characters: river pirates, princesses, tribal elders, poachers and petty politicians. After securing an MBA and doing time in the corporate world of banking, she returned to her subliminal love: writing. She moved to Bali, freelanced for 30 magazines around the globe and had a marvellous time exploring both her creative energies and new cultures.
Once her children were born, it was time to stay at home. Unable to relinquish the gypsy in her, she continued to wander, but this time in a world at her desk. This world and the people in it came together to form her first novel, Someone Else’s Garden.
