"The Tea Gardens" was an engaging read from start to finish. I loved the lush descriptions of India and the tea gardens at the base of the Himalayan Mountains, and it was easy to imagine the sights and smells of both. McIntosh has certainly done her research and vividly brought this exotic part of the world to life. My biggest disappointment, however, was the fact that it took nearly three-quarters of the book before the plot finally moved to the tea gardens. I would have liked this to have happened mucho sooner than it did.

Isla was a strong character and I admired her decision to go to Indian so she could help pregnant women give birth. However, she was naive at times and her decisions led to some terrible consequences. She often felt much younger than she was.

Whilst I loved Dove and thought he was too good for Isla, I didn't feel the same about Saxon. He was too moody and abrupt for my liking, and I could never understand Isla's infatuation with him. I did wonder how the author was going to resolve the love triangle, but I didn't find the ending as satisfactory as most of her other books. I thought Isla was forgiven too easily. However, I still enjoyed "The Tea Gardens" and look forward to reading other books by this Australian author. ( )

The Tea Gardens was a mixed book for me. Some parts of it I absolutely adored, others I had to really push through to suspend disbelief (well, it is fiction). I picked it up and put it down several times. Some days I missed it, others I didn’t. It’s a book of contrasts – the different cultures of England and India, the roles of women in the 1930s, passion versus love and acceptance versus fighting for your beliefs.

The book started off well for me. Isla is a female doctor, single and working hard in England to improve the lives of women in obstetrics. Her true desire is to go to India to work in tropical diseases, but her father is against that as he believes India and tuberculosis is what killed Isla’s mother. They’ve come to a compromise – Isla to go to India, but work in obstetrics. However, her father has one last trick up his sleeve – reintroduce Isla to her teenage crush Jove, who is now looking for a wife. I was a bit uncomfortable at this point – surely as a female doctor in a very male dominated field Isla would have developed the strength to stand up for what she wanted to do? Perhaps at heart she was willing to defer to her father’s wishes. When Isla and Jove met, it was an instalove involving a long date culminating in a proposal. Again, this was a bit weird for me – one date and you’re happy to be bonded for life? Jove also seemed a bit controlling already in what he wanted Isla to do and not do during her time in India – could Isla not see it?

Doubts aside, Isla arrives in Calcutta and turns the obstetrics ward around to improve things. She has a follower in fellow doctor Miles, a seemingly benign ladder climber and soon, an enemy in tropical diseases specialist Saxon. But amongst the sparring is an essence of respect between the pair and it’s to Saxon Isla turns to when she tries to help out a young couple. This has disastrous consequences for all involved…

Isla was a character who didn’t always sit quite right with me, as you’ve likely guessed from above. She can be quite headstrong and irrational at times but also kind of stupid. There was one line where she was looking at a wound, and says to herself, “just beginning to leak blood…or extravasate, I corrected in my mind…’. If Isla is an experienced doctor, I would think she would automatically think in medical terms. Nor would she go on to define extravasate to herself – she should automatically be speaking that language to herself and her colleagues. (I could go on about her use of the word painkiller but I’ll get off my high horse – maybe it’s just us moderns who would never say that to a co-worker). She’s a mish-mash of devotion, romance and immaturity – not really a typical woman in her thirties for me. Saxon I found much more interesting as he spoke bluntly, honestly communicating his thoughts without social niceties. (Plus, he had a good knowledge of tea).

The style of writing of The Tea Gardens wasn’t quite my cup of tea. As the previous paragraph shows, I’m not one for a ton of description unless it seems natural. I felt that some of the descriptions, particularly of the scenery, were over the top in use of adjectives for me. The story was also very well researched, but again I personally thought there was too much at times. It felt like when you’re answering an exam question but know so much more about something a bit off topic and decide to cram it in there to demonstrate your knowledge.

If you enjoy romantic historical fiction, you may well disagree with my opinion. Unfortunately, the story and I couldn’t quite make it work for each other.

Thank you to Penguin for the copy of this book.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com ( )