Book Review: The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark

The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark

Publisher: Atria Books

Publish Date: April 5, 2011

Hardback, 368 pages 
Fiction, Historical

 ISBN: 978-14165-9059-0

My Review:
Why I read this: India during the transition period plus a cache of hidden letters had me.


My thoughts: A very interesting look at the lives of two different couples in two different time periods.  The writing keeps you interested and turning pages until the last one.

I keep branching out now that I review books on my blog.  I continue to find new authors and new types of fiction that I fall in love with.  Ms. Newmark is one of those times where I have branched out.  I have never read much about India until recently and now I am fascinated.  With books like Deanna Raybourn's Dark Road to Darjeeling to take me back in time and Shilpi Somaya Gowda's The Secret Daughter in the present, I have fallen in love with India and it's differences and similarities to our culture.  The Sandalwood Tree provides two different worlds, the India of the mid 1800s and the India of the mid 1940s.  A fascinating look at characters and the landscape of the country.  Though the main characters are all British, the looks into life in India are still very fascinating.

I'm not sure which story I liked more, and the nice thing is how well Ms. Newmark blends those stories together, it never feels forced or bumpy.  The stories just go from one to the next and I loved learning about each couple a little bit at a time.  The writing is magical and real to the time frames (or at least my feelings of what the time periods would be).  I think Ms. Newmark did excellent research for this book and it really shows.

If you love stories revolving around secrets and in exotic locales, then this is a book for you.  If you like interesting looks into relationships then this is a book for you.  If you enjoy being spellbound by a book for hours at a time, then this is a wonderful book for you.  It definitely held me under it's spell and made me sad that I had to put it down to get the kids to school and go to work, but I was happy it was waiting for me at lunch and the end of the day.


My Rating: 4.0/5.0

For more information on this book, please see my book tour post.

FTC Information: I received this book from the publisher through Pump Up Your Book Promotion for an honest review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.