One freezing winter morning a dead body is found in the backyard of the Dharma family’s house. It’s the body of Anu Krishnan.
For Anu, a writer seeking a secluded retreat from the city, the Dharmas’ “back-house” in the sleepy mountain town of Merrit’s Point was the ideal spot to take a year off and begin writing. She had found the Dharmas’ rental through a happy coincidence. A friend from university who had kept tabs on everyone in their graduating year – including the quiet and reserved Vikram Dharma and his first wife, Helen – sent her the listing. Anu vaguely remembered Vikram but had a strong recollection of Helen, a beautiful, vivacious, social and charming woman.
But now Vikram had a new wife, a marriage hastily arranged in India after Helen was killed in a car accident. Suman Dharma, a stark contrast to Helen, is quiet and timid. She arrived from the bustling warmth of India full of the promise of her new life – a new home, a new country and a daughter from Vikram’s first marriage. But her husband’s suspicious, controlling and angry tirades become almost a daily ritual, resigning Suman to a desolate future entangled in a marriage of fear and despair.
Suman is isolated both by the landscape and the culture, and her fortunes begin to change only when Anu arrives. A friendship begins to form between the two women as Anu becomes a frequent visitor to the house. While the children, Varsha and Hemant, are at school, Anu, Vikram’s mother, Akka, and Suman spend time sharing tea and stories.
But Anu’s arrival will change the balance of the Dharma household. Young Varsha, deeply affected by her mother’s death and desperate to keep her new family together, becomes increasingly suspicious of Anu’s relationship with her stepmother. Varsha’s singular attention to keeping her family together, and the secrets that emerge as Anu and Suman become friends, create cracks in the Dharma family that can only spell certain disaster.
Tell It to the Trees
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SHORTLISTED 2012 – Quebec Writers’ Federation Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction
LONGLISTED 2013 – IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
FINALIST 2013 – OLA Evergreen Award
“She has an amazing knack for hauling together the beauty, mess, joy and folly of ordinary people’s lives.”
—The Hamilton Spectator
“What a treat it is to read Anita Rau Badami.”
—National Post
“Badami’s psychological insight illuminates every scene [and] breathes authentic life into her characters. . . . Badami is a first-rate novelist.”
—NOW (Toronto)
“Badami’s descriptions of all locales are vibrantly realistic, filled with sensory detail and an acute sense of place. Badami’s feeling for place is matched, if not surpassed, by her ability to create characters that move off the page and into your mind.”
—Edmonton Journal
“Badami writes graceful, evocative prose and plays complex variations on her themes. All her characters are vibrant and deftly drawn.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Heartfelt and heartbreaking. . . . A chilling and pertinent read, one that remains frost-burned in the mind after the final page has turned.”
—The Georgia Straight
"Part literary whodunit, part psychological drama, Tell It to the Trees is all about solitude and secrets--and how the two can combine to hold a family together; and, at the same time, tear it apart."
—The Gazette
LONGLISTED 2013 – IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
FINALIST 2013 – OLA Evergreen Award
“She has an amazing knack for hauling together the beauty, mess, joy and folly of ordinary people’s lives.”
—The Hamilton Spectator
“What a treat it is to read Anita Rau Badami.”
—National Post
“Badami’s psychological insight illuminates every scene [and] breathes authentic life into her characters. . . . Badami is a first-rate novelist.”
—NOW (Toronto)
“Badami’s descriptions of all locales are vibrantly realistic, filled with sensory detail and an acute sense of place. Badami’s feeling for place is matched, if not surpassed, by her ability to create characters that move off the page and into your mind.”
—Edmonton Journal
“Badami writes graceful, evocative prose and plays complex variations on her themes. All her characters are vibrant and deftly drawn.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Heartfelt and heartbreaking. . . . A chilling and pertinent read, one that remains frost-burned in the mind after the final page has turned.”
—The Georgia Straight
"Part literary whodunit, part psychological drama, Tell It to the Trees is all about solitude and secrets--and how the two can combine to hold a family together; and, at the same time, tear it apart."
—The Gazette
About the Author
ANITA RAU BADAMI's first novel was the bestseller Tamarind Mem. Her bestselling second novel, The Hero's Walk, won the Regional Commonwealth Writers' Prize and Italy's Premio Berto, was named a Washington Post Best Book, was longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction, and was a finalist for the Kiriyama Prize. Her third novel, Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?, was released in 2006 to great acclaim, longlisted for the IMPAC Award, and a finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award. The recipient of the Marian Engel Award for a woman writer in mid-career, Badami is also a visual artist. She lives in Montreal.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is the story of a murder (in the 1st chapter), family secrets and domestic abuse all within the Dharma family who had immigrated from India to a small isolated town in Northern B.C.
I found it hard to close this book once I had started. The subject matter is very disturbing (various types of domestic abuse) yet the story grabs you. The characters were well-developed and I found that either my heart was breaking for them, I was terrified for them or I loathed them.
This has to be one of the best portrayal's of the effects of domestic abuse that I have ever read.
The title was perfect!
I found it hard to close this book once I had started. The subject matter is very disturbing (various types of domestic abuse) yet the story grabs you. The characters were well-developed and I found that either my heart was breaking for them, I was terrified for them or I loathed them.
This has to be one of the best portrayal's of the effects of domestic abuse that I have ever read.
The title was perfect!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Janet Babins
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This story takes place in the mountain town of Merrit's Point in Northern British Columbia. The Dharma home is isolated. It is the only inhabited building for miles around.
It opens with a dead body found in the backyard of the Dharma family house. It is the body of their tenant Anu Krishnan. It was 30 degrees below zero that night. Anu had taken her jacket off. The question is why would Anu go out in a blizzard? Didn't she know how dangerous cold can be?
Anu wanted time away from the busy city so that she could write and reflect. Vikram rented the back-house to Anu for one year. She had found the house through an university friend who kept in touch with everyone in the graduating year including the quiet and reserved Vikram Dharma and his first wife Helen(Harini). Anu didn't remember Vikram, but she did remember Helen, a pretty, fun loving and outgoing woman. During her stay, she befriends Suman, the second wife, and Akka, the matriarch of the Dharma family. Her arrival will soon change the balance of the Dharma household.
Living in the house is the Dharma family. The husband Vikram, his first wife Helen, their daughter Varsha and Vikram's elderly mother Akka. Helen was a messy housekeeper, a bad cook, but she loved to dress up and go out. Vikram was a jealous man and treated her poorly. One day, she decides to leave. She has had enough of Vikram. She takes her car and off she goes. Shortly after leaving, Helen is killed in a car accident. Vikram is shocked and very angry.
Vikram then decides to go to India for the first time and in an arranged marriage, marries Suman. Six months later she arrives at the Dharma house. Suman is so different from Helen. She is quiet and timid. She arrived from India, full of promise of her new life, a new home, a new country and a daughter from Vikram's first marriage. Soon after, Suman gives birth to a son named Hemant. Suman is a wonderful housekeeper and a very good cook, but Vikram finds fault with everything she does. He has a bad temper and begins to abuse her in the same way he did with his first wife. He calls Suman a fool and criticizes her for still wearing saris. Suman stops smiling and now she cries a lot. He even whips his own daughter with his belt.
Vikram's mother Akka tells Suman to leave and run as fast as she can to get away from her son. Varsha loves her step-mother and hides her passport so that she can't leave.
With Anu's friendship with the two women, terrible things are bound to happen. Secrets are now beginning to spill out and that will cause more problems.
Tell It to the Trees is a domestic drama of family life set in an Indian household, about the impact of family secrets and the cost of preserving and protecting the family name.
The writing is beautifully descriptive. The characters are vivid and you will be transported to a different world. The novel is filled with suspense and family secrets that will hold your interest from beginning to end.
Anita Rau Badami's novel Tell It to the Trees is a WINNER.
It opens with a dead body found in the backyard of the Dharma family house. It is the body of their tenant Anu Krishnan. It was 30 degrees below zero that night. Anu had taken her jacket off. The question is why would Anu go out in a blizzard? Didn't she know how dangerous cold can be?
Anu wanted time away from the busy city so that she could write and reflect. Vikram rented the back-house to Anu for one year. She had found the house through an university friend who kept in touch with everyone in the graduating year including the quiet and reserved Vikram Dharma and his first wife Helen(Harini). Anu didn't remember Vikram, but she did remember Helen, a pretty, fun loving and outgoing woman. During her stay, she befriends Suman, the second wife, and Akka, the matriarch of the Dharma family. Her arrival will soon change the balance of the Dharma household.
Living in the house is the Dharma family. The husband Vikram, his first wife Helen, their daughter Varsha and Vikram's elderly mother Akka. Helen was a messy housekeeper, a bad cook, but she loved to dress up and go out. Vikram was a jealous man and treated her poorly. One day, she decides to leave. She has had enough of Vikram. She takes her car and off she goes. Shortly after leaving, Helen is killed in a car accident. Vikram is shocked and very angry.
Vikram then decides to go to India for the first time and in an arranged marriage, marries Suman. Six months later she arrives at the Dharma house. Suman is so different from Helen. She is quiet and timid. She arrived from India, full of promise of her new life, a new home, a new country and a daughter from Vikram's first marriage. Soon after, Suman gives birth to a son named Hemant. Suman is a wonderful housekeeper and a very good cook, but Vikram finds fault with everything she does. He has a bad temper and begins to abuse her in the same way he did with his first wife. He calls Suman a fool and criticizes her for still wearing saris. Suman stops smiling and now she cries a lot. He even whips his own daughter with his belt.
Vikram's mother Akka tells Suman to leave and run as fast as she can to get away from her son. Varsha loves her step-mother and hides her passport so that she can't leave.
With Anu's friendship with the two women, terrible things are bound to happen. Secrets are now beginning to spill out and that will cause more problems.
Tell It to the Trees is a domestic drama of family life set in an Indian household, about the impact of family secrets and the cost of preserving and protecting the family name.
The writing is beautifully descriptive. The characters are vivid and you will be transported to a different world. The novel is filled with suspense and family secrets that will hold your interest from beginning to end.
Anita Rau Badami's novel Tell It to the Trees is a WINNER.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Madeline
Format:Hardcover
Not as good as her prior books but a very good, authentic story. It was short and I took one star away as I felt she may have rushed the book to print and did not take the time to flesh out her characters or broaden the story. Still - very good read.
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Great Read
This is a well written novel which keeps the reader very entertained and wanting to know more about the novel characters as the story progresses. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Deep
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Miss this Powerful and Wonderful Book
Tell it to the Trees is the disturbing and compelling story of domestic violence and psychological abuse within a family. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Deborah in BC
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