Sophie Shah was six when she learned her mother, Nita, had died. For twenty-two years, she shouldered the burden of that loss. But when her father passes away, Sophie discovers a cache of hidden letters revealing a shattering truth: her mother didn't die. She left.
Nita Shah had everything most women dreamed of in her hometown of Ahmedabad, India-a loving husband, a doting daughter, financial security-but in her heart, she felt like she was living a lie. Fuelled by her creative ambitions, Nita moved to Paris, the artists' capital of the world-even though it meant leaving her family behind. But once in Paris, Nita's decision and its consequences would haunt her in ways she never expected.
Now that Sophie knows the truth, she's determined to find the mother who abandoned her. Sophie jets off to Paris, even though the impulsive trip may risk her impending arranged marriage. In the City of Light, she chases lead after lead that help her piece together a startling portrait of her mother. Though Sophie goes to Paris to find Nita, she may just also discover parts of herself she never knew.
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Sophie Shah presses her slim body against the cold wall that separates her bedroom from her papa's.- 1, SOPHIE
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(Lake Union Publishing, 1 February 2023, e-book, 319 pages, copy from the publisher via NetGalley)
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I really loved The Direction of the Wind. I was pulled right into Sophie and Nita's story from the first pages. I knew I was going to fall in love with both of them and they would break my heart. I was right. The book moves between now with Sophie searching for the mother she's long thought dead and the past when Nita walk away from her family beckoned by the bright lights of Paris. I found Nita's story more compelling. I really wanted to find out when both stories would meet. Sophie annoyed me a little as she referred to Nita as mummy even though she was in her twenties which grated a little. I cried a lot reading this beautiful book.
