I am a big fan of www.Goodreads.com. This site is where I often research books. The ratings are very important to me. The Storyteller’s Secret by Sejal Badani has a 4.37 after 72,427 ratings. That is a really high score on Goodreads. I used an Audible credit to listen to this story. Unfortunately, for me, the book is only getting a 3.0 rating. It is disappointing when I have such high expectations.

The Publisher’s Summary:

Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family’s past.

Intoxicated by the sights, smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the culture. But it is Ravi—her grandmother’s former servant and trusted confidant—who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation. Through her courageous grandmother’s arrestingly romantic and heart-wrenching story, Jaya discovers the legacy bequeathed to her and a strength that, until now, she never knew was possible.

My Review:

Sejal Badani has a beautiful writing style. I can see why so many people enjoyed the book. However, it was just too difficult for me to stretch my imagination to find the story of Jaya’s grandmother, Amisha, to be totally believable. First, intimate details of the grandmother’s life are being told by Ravi, who was not present during most of the scenes. Second, the grandmother was an uneducated Indian woman who spoke perfect English. Third, it is unbelievable that Amisha and the British officer could spend hours alone in the school garden. Didn’t he have a job to do? Didn’t all the other teachers notice the two of them alone?

My other problems with the present-day story are that it gets over-dramatic, cheesy, and a bit preachy. Jaya is very self-absorbed from depression. I was able to predict the ending. On the plus side, the descriptions of Indian life and culture, both past and present, are interesting.

And now for my Recipes For Readers recommendation:

Mango Lassi