"A gently provocative and thoughtful novel examining the memories of childhood and how they affect our future."
This is a tenderly written, fascinating and thoughtful semi-autobiographical novel. We follow Sissy through her life, as she experiences growing up in Zambia, and the impact it has left on her as an adult based in the United States. Sheena Kalayil explains that actual events and locations are placed and located in the novel. The prologue sets a beautifully described scene, the difference between the India of Sissy’s grandparents, and Zambia of her childhood settled vividly in my mind’s eye, noise, smells, memories all within touching distance. I particularly adored the small moments, the small actions that made this book feel so tangibly real. Time slides backwards and forwards with no explanation, none is needed. I was occasionally left unsettled as I became aware of the thoughts and feelings of the future Sissy, and waited for an explanation to occur in the past. ‘The Wild Wind’ looks at the presence of memories that bruise, that affect, that create our future selves, it is wonderfully readable and gently provocative too.
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
I didn't realise just how much I was enjoying reading this until suddenly I had finished the book.
Translator Sissy was born in Kerala but grew up in Zambia. Her story is revealed piece by piece as she reflects on her childhood and how her life began to change in 1978 when a plane was shot down over the school campus where she lived with her family.
The style is effortless, like floating down a river on a lazy Sunday. Even the dramatic events somehow feel as though the reader is viewing them from a distance and the result is that even things that should be shocking are not.
Kalayil cleverly manages to make the reader feel shell-shocked as though affected by the war.... Read Full Review
Discovered another new author to add to my list!
I really enjoyed reading this book. It’s very well written, with an interesting story and realistic characters. It was interesting too as it wasn’t really a place or a lifestyle that I knew anything about.
Sissy is the narrator, telling the story from the perspective of her current life as an adult living in modern day America. For most of the book she is looking back at her childhood in Zambia where national events impact on her life and family in ways she doesn’t understand at the time. With hindsight and an adult perspective she tries to make sense of what happened.
I would have liked to hear more of her life in America as the taster we got was intriguing.... Read Full Review
The Wild Wind by Sheena Kalayil is a triumph! Based on the true story of the author, told very eloquently with passion and humility about her life in Zambia as a child.
This book is a reflection of the author's childhood after she became a translator in America with some parts true, others fabricated.
The storyline jumps from present day to childhood and back again - the only slight criticism would be that I found it rather confusing without a date heading for each chapter. Going beyond that however I found the descriptions of surroundings, culture and Sheena's childhood really interesting, and her observations of relationships accurate and to the point.
The Olikara family have many ups and downs during Sissy's childhood, which is set during troubled times in Zambia with Rhodesia and Mozambique at loggerheads either side of their homeland. Sissy has many scary moments during this time and various people in her life disappear only to appear again years later.... Read Full Review
From the winner of the 2018 Writers' Guild Award In 1978, aged twelve, Sissy Olikara was living with her parents and baby brother on a school campus, on the outskirts of Lusaka. But much has changed since her childhood in Zambia: she is now a translator, based in the United States. Looking back, Sissy remembers the gentle routine her family enjoyed, before a series of events disrupt the balance: Ezekiel leaves her parents' employ under a cloud, Jonah arrives to replace him, and then her father leaves, suddenly, to go back to India. The region is also in transition, with Rhodesia to the south and Mozambique to the east both embroiled in internal wars, and when a civilian plane is shot down, the political repercussions begin to spill into their daily lives. With her father gone, Sissy's gaze turns to her mother, Laila, who struggles to cope and must rely on the people around them. Trying to negotiate her way through adolescence, Sissy finds herself at the centre of a complex web of emotions and events that have a long-lasting effect on her.
The Wild Wind features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Books with reviews by our Reader Review Panel, Sharing Diverse Voices, Family Drama, General Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
The Wild Wind is available in Paperback
The Wild Wind was written by Sheena Kalayil and published by Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited an imprint of Birlinn General
The Wild Wind has 256 pages
