Hina Belitz

"There are bruises on my skin and deeper hurts within"

This is a difficult book to review because it covers some delicate topics reasonably well, but I didn't find it particularly well written. Considering this is the author's first book, however, I think I would try her again as the subjects were certainly worthy of a novel.

Mani and her younger brother Nu begin their life in Lahore, Pakistan. Unfortunately Nu's startlingly pale skin gave gossiping neighbours cause for malicious comments, and his father was swayed by their opinions. I found these early scenes quite disorientating and the balance between keeping the reader guessing veered too far in the direction of confusion. I would probably have given up at this stage, but I was reviewing the book for NetGalley and felt somewhat obliged to continue.

As a result of events in the early part of the book, Mani and her brother go to live in England with their uncle and aunt, where they must adjust to a totally new way of life, always feeling like outsiders. An arranged marriage appears to be a solution to everyone's problems.

The strength of this book is the way the author deals with the issues of domestic violence; you could totally see why an abused wife would keep forgiving her husband when profuse apologies would be followed by a couple of weeks at a time of being loving and romantic, but then he'd flip at a moment's annoyance into an unrecognisable demon, only to repeat the cycle.

I didn't really go with the letters that Mani writes throughout the book, they seemed to be asking for trouble and the explanation for them that we finally get near the end of the book didn't convince me. Maybe these would be more persuasive for lovers of self-help books.

So, lots of area that didn't really work for me, but others have loved it so I guess it's a bit of a Marmite book. I shall keep my eyes open for more from this author as I think, in spite of its faults, that this book could be the start of something good.… (plus d'informations)