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The arrival of a mysterious letter addressed to her mother’s maiden name, Chitra Varma, leads to a sudden trip to the Varma family home in Malanad, Kerala. Her mother’s fragile mental state and her father’s clinical distant demeanour make for an unnaturally calm home. Rakhee is apprehensive about her first trip to India and is reluctant to leave both Minnesota and her father behind. In India, Rakhee finds herself a stranger in a strange land, where she trips and fumbles her way through tradition and formality. Normally a quiet and awkward child, she feels a crippling loneliness as her mother is even more distracted and distant than usual. Both Rakhee and her father have always been enchanted by the beautiful and enigmatic Chitra. She even fears that her ephemeral mother may vanish at any moment like a dream. Chitra is a woman who is loved more than she loves and is understood less than she is treasured. Even young Rakhee knows enough about her parents’ marriage to realise its fragility and is deeply mistrustful of Prem, her mother’s childhood friend, whom she is a little too glad to see. Ultimately, her mother is at the heart of all the mysterious going-ons in the Verma household. The Verma family is highly respected in the village and they own the local hospital. Their estate is large but the house is full of dark and dusty corridors, and behind it lies a forbidden forest, walled off. Unease permeates the Verma household and is felt by all, be it stern aunt Sadhana, despondent yet kind uncle Vijay or the ailing grandmother. Rakhee feels suffocated both by the heat and the air which is heavy with all the things that aren’t said. She bitterly observes that she is becoming too good at finding and keeping secrets. She finds some respite in the company of her three cousins, Meenu, Krishna and Geetanjali. However, Rakhee is drawn to the forest and its mysteries undaunted by the rumours of it being haunted. She ventures deeper and deeper into the forest, ultimately finding the titular garden and the chilling secret it holds. Kamala Nair skilfully paints an authentic picture of a sleepy village in Kerala. We see the place come to life; the dark dusty corners, the lush Ashoka trees, the call of the cicadas, the peeling hospital walls and the oppressive moist heat. The writer’s greatest achievement is credibly rendering the perspective of a 10-year-old. Nair successfully conveys Rakhee’s anxiety and bewilderment; the tale reads both like an exciting adventure and a terrible nightmare. Feeling protective of the precocious narrator, the reader quickly becomes co-conspirator, fearful of what might happen next. Nair has constructed convincing and compelling characters who are reminiscent of people we know yet not derivative. As the book progresses, the writing takes on a fantastical edge, reading like a fever dream. Secrets are also seldom so well concealed as the Varmas have managed to keep theirs. This book shows that some things are inescapable; Chitra cannot run far away enough, even in America she is haunted by her past that no amount of pills can take the edge off. Forced to face the ghosts of her past, she returns home. It is a journey that people must undertake, to understand who they are with reference to where they come from and ultimately, where they belong. It is in this one summer that Rakhee grows up and understands that grownups are just flawed individuals who seem all knowing and in control but are struggling with doubt and guilt. She realises that people can do wrong things for the right reasons and that they can be both selfish and selfless; but at the end of the day, all we have is a family.
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lot of things hold families together; blood, love and sometimes secrets.
Coming of age for many involves acknowledging said secrets and keeping
them. But, ultimately, the very secrets that bind families also divide
them; this is the aftermath of deceit. The Girl in the Garden tells
the story of one fateful summer, when the 10-year-old Rakhee finds out
her family secrets all too early. Rakhee’s world spins out of control
as she discovers more than she bargained for.