{"product_id":"the-painted-ocean-9781472151131","title":"The Painted Ocean","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhen I was a little girl, my dad left me and my mum, and he never came back. And you''re supposed to be gutted when that happens. But secretly I preferred it without him, cos it meant I had my mum completely to myself, without having to share her with anyone. And I sort of inherited all the affection she used to give to my dad - like he''d left it behind for me as a gift, to say sorry for deserting me\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo says eleven year old Shruti of her broken home in suburban middle England. But hopes of her mother''s affection are in vain: speaking little English, and fluent in only \u003ci\u003eHindi\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003ePunjabi\u003c\/i\u003e, Shruti''s mother is lost, and soon falls prey to family pressure to remarry. To find another husband means returning to India and leaving Shruti behind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMeanwhile at school a new arrival, the indomitable Meena, dispenses with Shruti''s bullying problems and transforms her day to day life.  Desperate for companionship Shruti latches on to Meena to the point of obse\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGabriel Packard is a major new literary talent, and his debut novel \u003ci\u003eThe Painted Ocean\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003ea fearless tour de force\u003c\/b\u003e. It is a rare achievement - an \u003cb\u003eemotionally rich\u003c\/b\u003e work of literature, delivered in the form of a \u003cb\u003egripping, page-turning\u003c\/b\u003e story. The depiction of a British Indian childhood and adolescence is \u003cb\u003eutterly compelling\u003c\/b\u003e, as is the allegorical exploration of the human condition. * Colum McCann *\u003cbr\u003eGabriel Packard's \u003cb\u003edebut is unlike any other\u003c\/b\u003e. Told by the ill-fated but indomitable Shruti, whose lively, contemporary voice masks great pain, the novel ranges from her bitter childhood in southern England to her extraordinary imprisonment on a desert island in the Indian Ocean. Shruti's experience hovers somewhere between the dark world we know, and an imaginary darker still. \u003ci\u003eThe Painted Ocean\u003c\/i\u003e is an \u003cb\u003eunsettling and unforgettable\u003c\/b\u003e book. * Claire Messud *\u003cbr\u003eDreamlike in its intensity, epic in its scope, \u003ci\u003eThe Painted Ocean\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003ea powerful fiction debut\u003c\/b\u003e. Gabriel Packard has a style that is propulsive, \u003cb\u003eunforgettable and utterly unique.\u003c\/b\u003e * SAÏD SAYRAFIEZADEH *\u003cbr\u003eGabriel Packard has written the sort of book publishers, readers, the whole world is hungry for: a \u003cb\u003ethrilling and literate\u003c\/b\u003e debut, a smart \u003cb\u003epage-turner\u003c\/b\u003e that takes your emotions and wraps them around its brutal, quick fist. I sat to read the first page of this novel and blew the rest of my weekend finishing the whole blessed thing. * Darin Strauss *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Painted Ocean\u003c\/i\u003e has the heart and intelligence and \u003cb\u003everbal brilliance\u003c\/b\u003e of Charles Dickens, and a young narrator who is as \u003cb\u003elively, smart, and full of feeling\u003c\/b\u003e as, say, Huck Finn. Gabriel Packard's debut novel, which recounts the painful coming of age of a British-born first-generation-immigrant girl from India, during the '90s, has the potential to be \u003cb\u003eone of those books that everybody wants to read\u003c\/b\u003e - the humanity of the main character under extreme duress, and the marvelous idiom in which she speaks, are both \u003cb\u003ehauntingly compelling\u003c\/b\u003e. As with Dickens and Twain, the voice that Packard has created is complex, morally challenging, and \u003cb\u003ea true literary achievement\u003c\/b\u003e. * Tom Sleigh *\u003cbr\u003eThis debut novel ... \u003cb\u003egrabs you by the throat and holds on tight\u003c\/b\u003e * Sydney Morning Herald *\u003cbr\u003eOne \u003cb\u003eimpressive\u003c\/b\u003e debut. Reminiscent of Dickens in its dramatic scope and descriptive passion, with obvious (favourable) comparisons to Monica Ali's \u003ci\u003eBrick Lane, The Painted Ocean \u003c\/i\u003eis about surviving as an Indian migrant in England ... Shruti's subsequent adventures stray onto \u003ci\u003eLord of the Flies \u003c\/i\u003eturf.\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eThe writing is \u003cb\u003erich and immediate\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003ecompelling\u003c\/b\u003e in its intensity. \u003cb\u003eThe pages seem to turn themselves.\u003c\/b\u003e * The Australian Way *\u003cbr\u003eThis \u003cb\u003eambitious\u003c\/b\u003e debut novel has an \u003cb\u003eunforgettable\u003c\/b\u003e narrator in Shruti * Red magazine *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47851731288407,"sku":"9781472151131","price":9.74,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781472151131.jpg?v=1710642985","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-painted-ocean-9781472151131","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}