Far Cry From The Turquoise Room

No cover — Kate Rigby: Far Cry From The Turquoise Room (Paperback, Kate Rigby)

Paperback, 154 pages

English language

Published by Kate Rigby.

ISBN:: 978-1-4636-1110-1
Goodreads:: 14400728

(1 review)

Told from both daughter and father's perspectives, Far Cry From The Turquoise Room is a coming-of-age, riches-to-rags tale of loss, resilience, and self-discovery, set just before the millennium. It is also about the passage of childhood into puberty.

Leila is the eight-year-old daughter of Hassan Nassiri, a wealthy Iranian property owner, and younger sister to the adored Fayruz, her father's favourite daughter.

But a holiday narrowboat tragedy has far-reaching consequences for the surviving family. Hassan withdraws into reclusive grief, when he’s not escaping into work, or high jinks with his men friends at his second home in Hampstead, leaving Leila to fend for herself in a lonely world of nannies, chess and star-gazing.

Leila eventually runs away from home and joins a family of travellers in Sussex, and so follows a tale of adventure, danger and romance – and further anguish for her surviving family. But how will she fare …

Told from both daughter and father's perspectives, Far Cry From The Turquoise Room is a coming-of-age, riches-to-rags tale of loss, resilience, and self-discovery, set just before the millennium. It is also about the passage of childhood into puberty.

Leila is the eight-year-old daughter of Hassan Nassiri, a wealthy Iranian property owner, and younger sister to the adored Fayruz, her father's favourite daughter.

But a holiday narrowboat tragedy has far-reaching consequences for the surviving family. Hassan withdraws into reclusive grief, when he’s not escaping into work, or high jinks with his men friends at his second home in Hampstead, leaving Leila to fend for herself in a lonely world of nannies, chess and star-gazing.

Leila eventually runs away from home and joins a family of travellers in Sussex, and so follows a tale of adventure, danger and romance – and further anguish for her surviving family. But how will she fare at such a young age and will her family ever find her?

1 edition

Stephanie Jane reviewed Far Cry From The Turquoise Room by Kate Rigby

Could have been longer

3 stars

I enjoyed the dual viewpoint aspect of this novella which allows us to see the story unfold from both Leila's and her father, Hassan's, perspectives as they take chapters to speak directly to the reader. Their switching from speaking about themselves in a mix of first and third person did take a bit of getting used to, but it begins to feel more natural as the story progresses. Their reactions to a traumatic event within the family send them onto very different paths and it is this divergence that provides the narrative arc.

I felt I could understand Leila's journey more easily. She comes across as a mature child and her luck in meeting people prevents her from falling too far through society's cracks. Hassan's dark introversion makes him a more difficult character to empathise with, especially as we don't get to know him very well within the space confines …

I enjoyed the dual viewpoint aspect of this novella which allows us to see the story unfold from both Leila's and her father, Hassan's, perspectives as they take chapters to speak directly to the reader. Their switching from speaking about themselves in a mix of first and third person did take a bit of getting used to, but it begins to feel more natural as the story progresses. Their reactions to a traumatic event within the family send them onto very different paths and it is this divergence that provides the narrative arc.

I felt I could understand Leila's journey more easily. She comes across as a mature child and her luck in meeting people prevents her from falling too far through society's cracks. Hassan's dark introversion makes him a more difficult character to empathise with, especially as we don't get to know him very well within the space confines of such a short book.

Overall, I felt that Far Cry From The Turquoise Room needed to be a longer story in order to better show Leila and Hassan's emotional journeys as well as their physical travels. I liked the tale, but many issues are briefly raised and then not fully explored. I wanted deeper insights.

Subjects

Coming of age