The Spice Maker's Secret

by Renita D'Silva

1939, India. Gently kissing her child, Bindu reaches into her pot of powder and touches her finger to the baby’s forehead. She tries to hide her tears behind her sari as she hands her daughter into a stranger’s arms, wondering if she will ever see her again…

Trapped in an unhappy marriage, Bindu is desperately lonely. Before her wedding, she was a highly sought-after cook and although she is not allowed into the kitchen in her new house, she can still taste chilli on her tongue and remember the feel of ground turmeric on her fingers. She finds solace in writing recipes and creating new spice mixes, hoping to pass them down to her unborn child. But when her jealous husband finds out, he confines Bindu to her room alone. As she goes into labour, Bindu is trapped and desperately afraid for her child’s life. Even a recipe cannot rescue her this time. Will she and her baby find a way to survive?

1990, London. Eve’s most treasured gift from her beloved adopted father was a hand-written, Indian recipe book. Grieving his death, she begins to grind and mix the spices penned so carefully in the recipes. Do the crumbling pages in this book hold the key to uncovering the secrets of her past?

Her father never spoke of her birth mother, finding it too painful to talk about his time in India. But now he’s gone, Eve is desperate to understand where she comes from. Will finding her birth family, lost for so long, help Eve to find her place in the world, or will it tear her apart?

The Spice Maker’s Secret is an utterly unforgettable and heartbreaking story about love, betrayal and one woman’s extraordinary sacrifice. Fans of The Henna Artist, The Beekeeper of Aleppo and The Storyteller’s Secret will be utterly hooked.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Audiobook, India, Fiction, Historical

378 pages, Paperback

Published December 27, 2023

About the author

Renita D’Silva loves stories both reading and creating them. Wartime Comes To West India Dock Road, the second book in her historical saga series set on West India Dock Road, is out on July 23, 2025. Her books have been translated into several languages. Her short stories have been published in The View from Here, Bartleby Snopes, this zine, Platinum Page, Paragraph Planet, Verve among others, have been nominated for the Pushcart prize, the Best of the Net anthology, shortlisted for the LoveReading Very Short Story award and The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize and longlisted for the BBC National Short Story award. Her short story, Eavesdropping Shamelessly, is published in the Arts Council England funded Bridges Not Borders anthology of prizewinning stories. Her first psychological thriller, The Neighbours, won the Joffe Books Prize 2023. Her second psychological thriller, The Dream Wedding, is out now.

Reviews

[theliterateleprechaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

“𝐇𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧.”

Renita D’Silva has crafted a wonderful story that encourages readers to get lost in the vibrant setting, the tantalizing blends of foods and spices, and the fascinating and exotic culture of India. She easily transported me by her attention to smell - it didn’t take much to imagine the burnt-sugar and honeyed-raisin scent of payasam or the cardamom-filled air. I dare anyone to read this and not crave biryani!

Yes, this fabulous historical fiction may focus on the 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙄𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙚-𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 AND it may spotlight an 𝙄𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣’𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙜𝙚, BUT it also

✔️shows the strength and determination of those who refused to be cowed by circumstance
✔️gives voice to those who are often silenced
✔️is a fascinating look at the culture and class disparity within India
✔️examines what we do next when we feel we’ve let someone down or when we’ve realized that the life we are now living is different from the one we’d imagined
✔️examines the dangers of being blinded by love or turned mad by jealousy
✔️underlines the importance of communication
✔️highlights the horrors of losing our freedom/agency by focusing on immediate gains
✔️shows the resilience of children
✔️reinforces the sacrifices parents the world over have made/continue to make for their children
✔️lays out the strategies we can use when we feel trapped and need to escape our ‘destiny’
✔️showcases the value of a legacy

What stood out to me was that each character was allowed to shine and present his/her multifaceted personality. Guru may have been jealous, irritating, and overbearing, but he was also kind and thoughtful. My heart broke because he didn’t know Bindu’s love language. Bindu may have been driven, thoughtful, and expressive, but she was also manipulative and vengeful. My heart broke because despite sacrificing for her dreams, she had her hands tied behind her back, so to speak, and it prevented her from loving Guru in a way that was important to him. I think Sister Hilda’s warning words foreshadowed Bindu’s life perfectly when she cautioned, “You cannot have everything.” Like the Indian land and culture, D’Silva’s characters were contradictions themselves.

I loved and needed to read these lines:

“Every experience teaches you something about yourself and the most difficult ones shape you. They brand you, burn you, but you come out of them changed for the better.”

“She had all the food and water she wanted, but it tasted bitter, flavoured with the repercussions of her choice.”

I appreciated the symbolism of the daffodil.

I feel that this is D’Silva at the top of her game! A powerful, moving tribute to two women whose love leads to extraordinary sacrifice.

I was gifted this copy by Bookouture and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

[eyes.2c · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking and fabulous!

A mesmerising tale that transports us between two women and two different times. Between Bindu in Suryanagar, India and Eva in London, from 1924 to 1980. Mother and daughter, lost to each other.
Loss and love in both lives. Going between Bindu’s story, her fight for the well being of her villagers, her husband, the traditions she doesn’t want to adhere to, her temperament and that of her husband’s, leading to tragedy.
And Eva, dealing with alienation and incredible loss.
When Eva finally takes the step of going to India, healing can begin. The daffodils can bloom.
Read and weep!

A Bookouture ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

[Kirsten Mattingly · Rating 3 out of 5]

With better editing, this could have been a five star book. The novel delves into powerful and timeless themes of sacrifice, love, grief, devotion, rebellion, and resilience. The main character, Bindu, is a pioneer for women’s rights in India. She is inspirational and unforgettable. Additionally, the author writes beautiful vivid descriptions of sights, flavors, aromas, and weather, so we readers can picture the way life was in this rural village in India in the 1930s.

What put me off and made the majority of the novel tedious for me, is the repetition. So many passages are repeated almost word for word, that when listening to the audiobook, I thought I had accidentally hit rewind, and was listening to the same chapters over again. I almost did not finish this book many times because I was so bored by the constant rehashing of the same material. I understood the first time that I read it that Bindu felt pressure to be a dutiful granddaughter, and a good student, she craved independence, and she sometimes needed to escape and skip school. I did not need this explained 15 times!

I’m glad I finished the book because the end was a big emotional pay off. I recommend this book to anyone who’s interested in reading about strong women who defied societal expectations at a time and place when women had very little control over their own lives.

I received this book as an audio download for free from NetGalley and Bolinda Audio and I appreciate that. The narrator Nikki Patel was superb.

[Stacey Mckeogh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a sweet book but I feel that it was a bit repetitive and could’ve been much shorter. I wasn’t completely taken by the personalities or opinions of a lot of the characters and wasn’t really bothered about what happened to them

[Barbara Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a beautiful story of resilience and sacrifice. Bindu’s family is very poor and her mother dies giving birth to her and as such, the village she is raised in considers her to be bad luck. She is raised by her grandmother, Aji, in a one room hut and her grandmother is fiercely protective and loves Bindu with all she has and feels that Bindu is not bad luck at all-after all, she has two crowns in her hair! That has to be a symbol of good luck. Bindu has many gifts, among them being the cooking skills that she learned from her grandmother who cooks for the big landowner in exchange for rent.
Bindu has dreams of being independent and going off to college so she studies and does well on the tests, but when the time comes, she can’t go because her grandmother is sick and Bindu can’t leave her. Bindu makes her peace with her life and soon settles & marries the son of the landowner and gives up on her dreams. She’s trapped in a marriage she never really wanted and not able to convince her husband that she has more to offer him than her looks, she starts to write to a magazine editor that she met at one of her husbands parties and he prints what she writes in his magazine. Soon they develop a close friendship and Bindu sees this as her way out of her marriage. But she finds herself pregnant k so it’s not just her she has to get out, but also her child. Her husband finds out about what she’s been doing behind his back and leaves her to give birth all alone and this changes everything for both of them.
In an alternate timeline, we meet Eve, who lives in London and who has experienced the kind of trauma that has forced her to retreat from life until her next door neighbor needs emergency help and forces Eve to come out of her shell and face the world she’s buried her head in the sand from. In doing so, she finds her desire to cook again using an Indian cookbook that was given to her by her adopted father. The cookbook is the key to her past, and slowly she realizes that she needs to unlock the secrets it holds. She discovers the impact that her mother made on the lives of others and wants to follow her mother’s footsteps.
The symbol of the daffodils as a rebirth and new beginning was so powerful to the story. It was part of Bindu and Eve’s journey and I will not be able to look at a daffodil in the spring the same way again.
Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

[Sherri · Rating 5 out of 5]

***I received an ARC from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review

This is a dual-timeline book, with the main timeline happening in India in the 1930's. Bindu, orphaned at birth and raised by her grandmother, spends her days going to the school the nuns started and helping her grandmother fill orders for their spice mixes. As her grandmother gets shakier, Bindu has to take on more of the work in their small kitchen. When her grandmother falls ill just as Bindu graduates and is set to go off to college, Bindu is forced to make an unappealing compromise - Bindu will marry their landlord's son, whom she has had a bellicose relationship with for years, and in return, her grandmother will be cared for by the same doctors that attend to the landlord. It is not a happy marriage, because both Bindu and Guru are too strong-willed and stubborn to make it work, so Bindu becomes lonely and bored. She strikes up a secret friendship with a magazine editor who wants to print some of her recipes. She begins to dream of leaving Guru and running away to England, and taking her baby with her, since she is now pregnant and convinced it will be a daughter.
The other timeline takes place in 1980 London, where Eve is struggling to cope with life, after the death of her husband and daughter. Some of her most treasured memories are of cooking with her daughter, using the hand-written Indian cookbook that Eve's adopted father had given her.. Eve had never asked about her birth mother, but now both of her adopted parents are gone, so it may be time to delve into the past to find out where she came from and who her birth family was.
This book was SO good. I could not put it down. There were a couple of heart-wrenching parts where I went through quite a few tissues, I will admit. It was also hard to read about the poverty they lived in, and the oppression they experienced, especially the females. The author did an excellent job with detailing everything. I felt like I was actually there watching it all unfold. I loved Bindu - she was so fearless and determined.. I especially loved how she defended herself against all of the boys and men who tried to take advantage of her! I highly recommend this one.

[Sally❦ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Spice Maker’s Secret” written by Renita D’Silva follows a dual timeline- one in Suryanagar, India in the 1930s featuring Bindu’s girlhood to motherhood and in England in 1980 following Bindu’s daughter, Eve. Both timelines come together to form a cohesive story portraying a myriad of themes in pre and post-independence in Indian society.

The author uses vivid imagery to appeal to the reader’s senses to encapsulate the aromas of the ginger,turmeric and chilli and the scenery of rural India. The author has utilized third person point of view to illustrate this tragic and heartbreaking story of women, motherhood and the fight for survival.

In the 1930s, Bindu is an orphan raised by her Ajji in poverty along with the other villagers, all tenants of the landlord, the only person who can live lusciously as he owns the land they all live on and are thus indebted to him. Those living in poverty exchange their services or goods to each other in order to survive. Bindu’s Ajji is the local chef who is deemed the best cook in the village and Bindu learns all she knows from her, together they concoct spice mixes and various dishes for their livelihood, cooking is the one avenue of peace for Bindu, which was soon taken away from her when she was married.

Bindu is a strong female main character who is stubborn, resilient, intelligent, courageous, assertive and tenacious and these traits are undoubtedly seen throughout the novel as the story progressed. As she transforms from girlhood to a teenager, Bindu flourishes into a pretty, intelligent young woman who becomes the scapegoat for the village women to project their miseries onto even more than when she was just a girl. “It’s as if they’ve forgotten the person they've watched develop into adulthood from an orphaned babe- she is only judged by her looks and their effect on their men and she is blamed for it…”
Bindu feels trapped by the cycle of poverty and judgement she endures from the village women and is determined to become an independent woman who works as a doctor and earns an income so her grandmother can retire. So she works hard towards winning a scholarship to do so, however, under certain circumstances she became desperate for her grandmother to be treated by an English doctor leading to her marriage to Guru, the son of the landlord.

The story presents the themes of the social subjugation of women, poverty, sacrifices, love, friendship, prejudice,dreams and desires, motherhood and language. This novel is a direct critique of the societal standards for women and girls versus men and boys, each are held to a different set of rules. For instance, the restrictive social practices of women, women’s subservience to men, the premature marriage of girls, economic domination of women; no matter their class. Whereas men are allowed to engage in talk of politics, money and other affairs, they have full control of the money and their wives as women are viewed as the property of men. “They might be the elite, but the Indian women, nevertheless, hang respectfully behind their men, their faces covered by their extravagant saris. Even though they are nobility, they still suffer the same fate as the likes of Bindu- nonentities secondary to their men, their faces hidden, personalities not in evidence.”

Furthermore, Bindu feels trapped by the oppressive rules she faces as a woman, her autonomy gone as a person as she belongs to her husband, Guru whom she loves but the societal standards are ingrained into him. She regrets her life decisions of rejecting her scholarship but she sacrificed herself for her Ajji as she is the only one who loved her as she is. Although, she incites changes within the village and improves the lives of the villagers who lived in poverty. Poverty is a major theme presented, the landlord’s lifestyle versus the struggling lifestyle of the villagers where “it was sheer torture to cook these feasts, this lavish plenty for the landlord, and then eat a few grains of stony rice, dry chapatis made from maggot-infested flour…”

All of which led Bindu to starting a correspondence with Laurence Elliot, an English editor who became a dear friend of Bindu’s whom she shared her recipes with for the magazine, The Sentinel. Where she was paid in money and gained a confidant who viewed her as a person with valuable opinions rather than an object. He later adopted Eve, Bindu's daughter at the age of three who was under the care of Sunitha, Bindu's best friend. Sunitha is another example of one of the very few companions of the main character who supported her throughout her life from their time at school to Bindu’s time as Memsahib Ramraj in the landlord’s house until her inevitable demise after childbirth.

Following Eve’s story in 1980, she suffers the loss of her loved ones and in an effort to revive her passion for life she was encouraged by her daughter’s best friend to go to her birth country to explore who she is and where she came from. Eve discovers the story of her mother and father’s lives and the impact her mother has made on the lives of others. There is a shared passion for helping others between mother and daughter. Eve could follow her mother’s dreams of being independent and free from oppressive rulings even without knowing her mother.

I admire the resilience of Bindu as her story is truly inspiring. Even as she was suffering, she aided those who needed help even if they were against her. She craved her independence throughout her entire life and even though she could not afford it, her daughter could do so because of her.
Love appears in many forms; familial- Ajji and Bindu, platonic- Laurence and Bindu/ Bindu and Sunitha, romantic- Guru and Bindu and the bond between a human and animal- Bindu and Dumdee; her pet dog who she could not bring with her to the landlord’s house but whom she missed dearly and “writing so many tributes to her beloved pet that she’d filled an entire notebook,” after his passing.

My favourite symbol presented in the novel is the daffodil; a representation of rebirth and new beginnings which is important for Eve and her journey ahead as she follows her mother’s legacy.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Spice Maker’s Secret” written by Renita D’Silva follows a dual timeline- one in Suryanagar, India in the 1930s featuring Bindu’s girlhood to motherhood and in England in 1980 following Eve, a woman who has just tragically lost her family. Both timelines come together beautifully to tell a wonderful story about mothers and daughters, as well as life in Pre-Independent India.

Bindu lives with her grandmother, Ajii, in a poor village in India. They survive by cooking for the landlord's special dinner parties and by making spices and healing in the village. Bindu is very smart and dreams of becoming a doctor. She goes to the mission school where she earns a scholarship to further her education, but when the time comes to sign for her scholarship, she has to turn it down as her grandmother is very ill and she can't leave her alone. She doesn't want to get married or ever depend on a man, but to help Ajii, she ends up marrying the Landlord's son who has desired her for years, promising her she will get care from the English doctor. She is trapped in a marriage that goes against all her values and is not happy being kept as a virtual prisoner. She begins writing to a magazine editor she met at one of her husband's parties about spices and recipes and he prints what she writes. This enrages her husband even more and he leaves her to give birth to their child alone. In the second timeline we meet Eve, a woman who was adopted from India by a publisher. She is now an author, but has stopped writing due to tragedy in her life. When her neighbour needs her help, she begins to come out of her shell and starts to cook again, using a cookbook from her mother that her adopted father gave her. The cookbook is the key to her past, and slowly she realizes that she needs to unlock the secrets to learn about her roots and her mother.

Bindu is a strong woman who is stubborn, resilient, intelligent, courageous, assertive and tenacious. She is very high achieving and feels things deeply, needing time alone or with someone she can talk to. She is a beautiful woman and that causes issues with the males in the story harassing her and the women disliking her and saying terrible things about her. They make judgements based on her looks rather than her actions. Everyone in the village is trapped in poverty and at the mercy of the Landlord. Guru, the landlord's son, was one that I has mixed feelings about. He felt that he was a prisoner of his father and he fell in love with Bindu. She was the only one to make him laugh and question him. When she eventually agrees to marry him, he is very happy, but quickly begins to act like his father and treat Bindu as if she is beneath him and that she is his property. Ajii was a wonderful character. She loved Bindu with all her heart and wanted her to have a wonderful life. In the future storyline, I felt for Eve. She had suffered so much that I was happy to see her begin to come out of her shell and try to learn about her past. This was a wonderful story where I learned some things about the life and culture in India in the 1930s. Some of the themes in this book are: domination and control of women, class structure, poverty, sacrifices, love, friendship, prejudice, dreams, mother/daughter relationships, grief, and the power of education. I recommend this Historical Fiction book to those who want to know more about India during this time and those who love stories about adoption, family relationships and following your dreams.

[Darrah · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Thanks NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC in return for an honest review*

It took me a bit to get into this story. I was focusing on how slow the story felt and then suddenly, the story grabbed me with full force. What an emotional and heart-breaking book. Bindu's relationship with food and her Ajii's recipes are such a strong reminder of how food connects strangers and also connects people back to their roots and memories. Its such an important element to who we are as people. I enjoyed Eve's chapters as well and her journey through grief and identity. Will definitely read more books by this author.

[Millie Cullen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bones of this book are really good - a great historical fiction about a woman living in 1920s India and rebelling against the standards of society. Bindu was a fantastic character that you really felt for and wanted to learn more about - I found myself rooting for her happy ending by 25% of the way in. The best parts of this book took place in the past and I looked forward to coming back to this section.

Flashing forward to meet Eve in the 1990s was not as exciting and honestly felt unneeded (we figure out what the ties are between the two by the end of the book if you couldn't figure it out by the synopsis, but it felt like we could have found out a different way to do so). Still, overall this section kept me slightly interested and wanting to figure out where Eve's story would leave.

The worst parts of this book that knocked it down to a 2.5 or a 3 were the editing, and the amount of times we had to watch verbal abuse be excused (I know why and this was probably a realistic depiction of the time, but it just made me so angry and I'll explain more in a second).

Let's start with the editing - Renita D'Silva had a great story in her head, and you could tell that in writing it, she just wrote whatever came to mind without proof reading (which is normal). She also probably wanted to drive home the point that Bindu was a very headstrong, lucky girl who only liked Guru as a companion while skipping school and that he had a temper and was spoiled. Because this is repeated SEVERAL times. When a good editor is at play, they will see these repeats and make sure that the number of times we hear about Guru and Bindu's bargain before marriage is only twice rather than the 20 times we ended up getting in this draft. So many sentences and concepts were repeated over and over, and at times it truly made me want to put down the book.

The second thing that made me want to put down this novel was how Guru's verbal abuse was downplayed so much by those around Bindu. Now once again, I know that this probably made sense for the time, but when her grandma/Adji was excusing it and telling Bindu to have compassion for him? I was tired of it! Adji knows how much Bindu wanted to be self-sufficient and also knew her time was probably coming to an end, so she should have told Bindu to leave him. I know, this isn't my story and I can't decide how things play out but GAH!!! IT WAS SO ANNOYING!!! And then Guru feeling sorry for himself at the end made me roll my eyes - this was your fault and you should have faced even worse consequences!!

Once again - the story was probably accurate to the time period, it was just a super frustrating read at times. I'm giving it a 3 because I enjoyed it overall, but this is not my top pick.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read almost all of this authors books. I love her stories, she has wonderful characters, complex themes and she writes beautifully.
She always gives us a wonderful descriptions of India and is people, and a lot of it is through the scent of smell, color..
This story start off when one of the main characters Bindu is growing up with her grandmother, in a small town in India, Her Grandmother a wonderful cook and sought out by many, also is wonderful at mixing spices for her dishes. Bindu from a young age has helped her grandmother with the cooking and becomes a great cook herself, one which she will use to her advantage.
Bindu is very smart , and grows up independent, and wanting more out of life than she has. She is able to study with some nuns who open up a free school for the children of the town, and learns to speak, read and, write in English, with the hopes that she can further her education.
Circumstances keep her from doing this when her Grandmother falls ill and she decides to marry the wealthy landlords son, to be able to get help for her grandmother, but living in a place where she can't follow her passions, just go to senseless function and be a good obedient wife is more than she can bear, and goes behind her husbands back to have a piece of herself back.
Bindu despite her circumstances, never gives up on wanting change for for her village and its residents, and fights hard to make that happen.
So much goes on in this story, which is so good. I would say it is a must read.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for a copy of this book.

[Yamini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focusing on our protagonist (Bindu), the story is narrated in dual timelines. In past, it took you on a ride exploring the south Indian villages that were stuck in the coils of caste discrimination and the Zamindari system. Bindu's whole life has been around this place. From her birth to childhood memories with her Ajji and her young blossoming self, exploring the extent of freedom in this irrevocable world. On the other side is another girl, in a foreign land with a foreign notebook with spiraling delicacies.

The book piqued an obvious question, when does one have the liberty to think about boredom, its impact on the world and education? An emty stomach only thinks about hunger and means to provide the next meal. I often found myself in a dilemma regarding Bindu's eventful actions, she had her reasons, but was the approach right? Maybe so!

Another aspect that captivated me was the letter-writing. I have always been a fan of this art and can never grow tired of it. The dual timelines were a tad confusing at first, but eventually one gets the hang of it. The book proficiently makes you feel a range of emotions which exhausting in a good way. It does have a slow pace, though the storyline demands it. The plot twists, however, keep you on edge.

Thank you @netgalley @bolindaaudio @renita_dsilva
Genre: #historicalfiction #India #womensfiction
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

#TheSpiceMakersSecret #NetGalley

[Trio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm almost stunned speechless right now... what an absolutely gorgeous story! I'm telling you, I was so moved by Renita D'Silva's emotional and poignant novel The Spice Maker's Secret.

Spanning the lives of both the grandmother (back in 1939) and granddaughter (1990), D'Silva explores both of these amazing ladies' lives. Through moments of joy and tragedy, these women find an awe-inspiring strength inside themselves. An incredibly powerful novel.

Not to be missed.

The audio version is beautifully narrated by Nikki Patel. An emotional and stunning performance.

an audiobook copy of The Spice Maker's Secret was provided by Bolinda Audio, via NetGalley, for the purpose of my honest review, all opinions are my own

[Soelo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
This is a good story that needs an edit for length. The audio is over 13 hours, but this could easily be told in 8 hours. We hear about the main characters frustrations 2-3 times, every time she has one. We understand her feelings of being trapped, feelings of hope, her fears, and then again her feelings of being trapped. For some reason, each of her internal thoughts is recounted at least twice and sometimes three times.

[Likestotravel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, The Spice Maker’s Secret explores a multi-generational family saga. Love and loss, rebellion and sacrifice all weave together into a gripping story of how women survive to thrive continents and decades apart.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this amazing ARC.

[Emma Crowley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s been three years since Renita D’Silva has published any new books. But now she is back with The Spicemaker’s Secret which is set in India and begins in 1924 taking us on a journey following a young girl named Bindu. The more modern aspect of the story takes place in England in 1980 and follows Eve. It wasn’t long before I figured out the connection between the two timelines but as to the specific circumstances surrounding the connection I couldn’t quite piece them together until much further on in the book.

I’ll admit that I found this to be a very slow burner. I’d say right up until the 40% mark I found that there was nothing much happening and at times there was quite a lot of repetition and I found myself really having to concentrate to read and digest each line. I couldn’t see in what direction the book was going to go in and yes of course a reader wants to be surprised but this needed something major to shake things up. When this finally happened my entire opinion of the book changed and I found myself reading much more quickly through the chapters rather than wading through them as I had been. This turned into a story of love and sacrifice and it’s only as you reach the last quarter or so of the book that you realise what a remarkable and inspiring character Bindu truly is.

In the more modern timeline we meet Eve who is a shell of her former self after the tragic death of her husband Joe and daughter Izzy. She is trying very hard to move on even though without her family her life has lost all meaning and purpose. They were cruelly taken from her and she feels immense guilt that she could have prevented this from happening. She has shut herself off from the world and never leaves the house relying on her friend Sue and neighbour Jenny to do her shopping and to check in on her. She knows she has the rest of her life ahead of her and that she must try and navigate it despite it despite the dark feelings that surround her.

We learn a little of Eve’s family history and how she used to enjoy cooking the recipes from her mother’s cookbook with Izzy but even now that simple pleasure has been taken away from her. When Jenny falls ill and Eve is asked to take care of her daughter Maya this is when a small bit of the former Eve starts to return. She has someone relying on her and she steps outside the walls of her house and takes tentative steps into her new and uncertain world. For a long time I questioned why Eve’s story was here but by the end it does all come full circle and Eve’s ending is very satisfactory and will bring a smile to your face. Her chapters were brief and dotted amidst Bindu’s and if there had been anymore I felt they would have taken away from Bindu’s story rather than added to it.

Bindu’s story is what shines through from this book and despite the slow start I did become completely engrossed in her tale. Her mother died giving birth to her and her father was killed in a freak accident during her mother’s pregnancy so her grandmother Ajii was left to raise her. They live in a village in India where the villagers are beholden to the local landlord. Times are tough with lack of food and when there is a drought, they pray diligently for the rains to come for if they don’t what will become of them? The setting of India was fabulous. You could feel the tropical heat seeping from the pages and the descriptions of the landscape were very vivid. There is a very strong focus of food and spices and cooking throughout the book and if Indian food is your thing then your mouth will be watering on more than one occasion. Bindu helps hers grandmother with the cooking as she is often tasked to prepare meals for the landlord when he throws parties. They eke out a living in this way and by cooking for the villagers when needed. It is a tough life but Bindu is happy but as time goes by her grandmother becomes frailer and Bindu steps up to the plate. The relationship that exists between Bindu and Ajii was lovely and they protected and nurtured one another.

Bindu is a remarkable character who we see transform from a little girl to a strong, fiery and feisty young woman. She is clever and attends the local school set up by the nuns where she eventually will win a scholarship to study in the city. Bindu is a person who knows what she wants in life and as well as that she is a beauty which in turn means she attracts unwanted attention from men which only means the women of the village dislike her intensely. I loved the creative way she came up with detracting the men and in this manner that is how she came to meet the landlords son, Guru. He will go on to pay a pivotal role in her life when she is faced with a very tough decision. Bindu is a good student and friend and dutiful granddaughter but there is a rebellious side to her too that yearns for something more beyond the small village that she calls home. She wants to be independent and not follow the rules of society and when she wins the scholarship she feels all her dreams and aspirations are within reach.

When Ajii falls gravely ill and shows no signs of improvement Bindu is faced with the one of the toughest decisions that she will ever make. She goes to the landlords compound and appeals to Guru for help as he has access to English doctors. You know when Bindu does this that it is the last resort for her as she is a woman ahead of her time who believes that she can do anything and that she doesn’t have to rely on others but making this huge sacrifice shows how much she loves her grandmother and appreciates everything that she has done for her. Guru puts Bindu in a awkward position, help will be granted if she marries him.

Bindu is aghast as she sees her dreams sliding from her not to mention the fact that when the landlord hears this news from his son he will be appalled for it is not the done thing for someone at such a level of society to marry a commoner from the village that one owns. I felt every bit of Bindu’s indecision as she knew that by accepting that she was in a contract with Guru and he held all the cards and made the rules and regulations. Bindu was not a person cut out for being stuck indoors with lack of access to reading materials nor was she someone who would love spending time attending parties where she could only congregate with women. But she deserves much admiration as she knew her Ajii needed help. So an arrangement is made and the marriage takes place Bindu and Ajii move into the compound where she is tended daily by a doctor.

From this point on we see a more mature Bindu emerge but one who has to fight on a daily basis as she feels claustrophobic and trapped by the rules and regulations imposed on her. Guru’s family represents everything that she is against but maybe she can turn this to her advantage. I thought it was brilliant as to how she went about this and in doing so she provided a better life for so many others. She sacrificed her freedom by marrying Guru and day by day she loses more of herself. She is hemmed in, closeted and imprisoned to a degree and this is not the Bindu that the reader has become familiar with and nor is it one that I wished to see as her passion and fire is threatened. When an opportunity comes her way she pounces on it and in a small way she is achieving a little liberation for herself but will this ultimately prove to be her downfall? At times I felt Guru did love Bindu and that perhaps she could grow to love him and then at others he came across as being cruel in his attitude and showed a complete disregard for Bindu and her needs wants and desires. He was unpredictable, selfish, callous and ruthless for the majority of the book.

The Spicemaker’s Secret was a great start to my 2024 reading. Renita D’Silva has written an incredible story highlighting the poverty at the time for so many and how it was in stark contrast to those who lived in such great wealth and luxury. The social and cultural dynamics are expertly explored and Bindu becomes a warrior of a woman who will stay on long in your mind after you have read the final word. Love, loss, power, connections and family are all strong themes which you will certainly enjoy here and I hope many readers enjoy The Spicemaker’s Secret as much as I did.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Renita D’Silva is an author who never disappoints. Her latest book is a sweeping novel of love, loss, struggle, betrayal, making the most of the hand that you’re dealt in life and learning that doing good for others is ultimately the quickest path to our own healing.

The story is told in a dual timeline, through the eyes of Bindu and Eve. The reader realizes that there’s obviously a connection between the two, but what that is, will only become apparent much later in the book.

At the start of the book, in a village in Suryanagar, India, Bindu lives a simple life in a hut with her beloved Ajjii, her grandmother. Their lives are not easy, governed by a cruel and callous landlord, the villagers struggle to eke out a living. They depend on each other to get by – bartering and exchanging their goods and services. But as with all those who live in close quarters and in dire circumstances, there is also plenty of gossip, much of which is mean-spirited, and a lot of this is directed at Bindu.

From a young age, Bindu learns all about spices and their uses – both for cooking and for various other things. Her Ajjii is an excellent cook and they are lucky that the landlord often hires her services when he entertains and has parties at his lavish home.

Bindu is bright and is offered an opportunity to go to a school nearby, started by the nuns. They foresee a great future for her, and if there’s one thing that Bindu craves for her future, it’s independence: a life away from the village and the way it ties her down. There are so many rules and too many people watching her all the time, dictating how she should live her life.

She’s surprised to discover that the only person who actually listens to her and understands how stifled she feels is Guru, the landlord’s son! They start to meet in secret, and they share how they both wish their lives could be different.

Suffice to say .. and without giving too much away … their dreams don’t go as planned. The strict system and structures of India at that time ensure that things are a certain way and that no matter how much Bindu might want them to change, there’s little chance of that happening. The devastation and havoc that are wreaked on her life become practically unbearable.

For every few chapters that tell Bindu’s story of her life in India – starting in the mid-1920’s, through to the late 1930’s – we get a chapter about Eve that takes place in London in 1980. Eve’s chapters are completely heartbreaking. In fact, I can just picture the author writing these with tears in her eyes, or even streaming down her face. It would be impossible to create such heartfelt, emotive words, without the deep feeling that would undoubtedly accompany them.

Eve has suffered a devastating loss and can’t seem to find her way back to any semblance of a ‘normal’ life. She had always toyed with the idea of visiting India to discover her roots, passed down to her by her adopted father, who had given her a recipe book of Indian recipes, said to be from her mother. But this now seems an impossible, far-off dream. She needs a catalyst to ground her back in the present and propel her forward. She cannot begin to imagine the future that awaits her.

This is a gorgeous book! The descriptions of rural Indian life are so detailed that the reader is truly transported to a place where you can almost smell the spices, and feel like you’re walking alongside Bindu on her journey.

Thank you to Renita D’Silva for opening up new worlds to your readers. We travel across time and space and beyond our imaginations, thanks to authors like you.

[erin_leigh_reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Spice Makers Secret is such a beautiful and moving story that touched me to the core. Author Renita D’Silva is a master storyteller, with her vivid descriptions and detailed portrayals of life in India in the 1930’s, and of the unjust disparities between the rich and poor.

The Spice Makers Secret is told from the POV of Bindu and Eve. Bindu’s story begins in a small village in India in 1924 while Eve’s story starts in 1980.

Bindu is being raised by her grandmother in a one roomed mud hut on land owned by a cruel and ruthless landowner. Conditions are horrible, there is drought and food and water are scarce. Bindu and her Grandmother, Ajji survive by preparing meals and spice mixes for the landowner and local villagers. Bindu is a smart, beautiful and ambitious young girl and hopes to better her and her grandmothers lives by going to school. She attends the local school run by nuns and excels in academia and has been offered a full scholarship to attend college. But Bindu’s hopes are dashed when Ajji becomes deathly ill and Bindu sacrifices her future dreams in order to save her grandmothers life.

The reader is introduced to Eve in 1980, who is struggling to deal with terrible loss. Her husband and young daughter were killed in a car accident and both her adoptive parents have passed away. Now Eve must find the courage to face a future alone without her loved ones. She eventually finds solace in an old Indian cookbook her father has given her and starts to explore her own story of adoption and identity.

I absolutely loved this book for so many reasons. First off is my love of the strongly independent and fierce Bindu. Despite her circumstances she held strong beliefs about the inequities between the villagers and her wealthy in-laws. She never tired of fighting for them and those she loved. I also enjoyed the historical aspects of this story learning about life in India in the 1930’s. Also, the vivid descriptions of food and spices was at times mouthwatering delicious. I could almost smell the aromas.

The Spice Makers Secret is a book I will cherish. I will definitely be reading more books by Renita D’Silva. If you like historical fiction, books with strong female characters, learning about other cultures and countries and family drama then I highly recommend The Spice Makers Secret.

Thank you Bookouture for my stop on the tour of The Spice Makers Secret. It was a 5 ⭐️ read for me.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many things I loved about The Spice Maker's Secret by Renita D'Silva. Having lived in India for four years, back in the 1980's, it is a place near and dear to my heart. The descriptions of foods and smells made my mouth water and my imagination soar. The book is descriptive of a past era in India's history, and in many ways, bought that time to life for me.

Bindu is a beautiful, smart, and determined girl in a poor village, being raised by her grandmother who is a wonderful cook. Her mother died at her birth, and her father shortly thereafter, but so loved is she by her grandmother, she doesn't miss her parents. But because of the two deaths at her birth, superstitious towns people have branded Bindu unlucky. As a young girl, Bindu befriends the rich landowner's son, Guru. As they grow older and Bindu's beauty is unmatched, Guru decides he wants Bindu as his wife, even though his parents are against it. Bindu wants to further her education, become a doctor, and help the people in her village. But when her grandmother's health declines, Bindu decides she must marry Guru in order to ensure the best care for her grandmother.

There is a more modern timeline story of Eve. It is a bit thin in the telling until the end of the book. Eventually, it is nicely tied into the Bindu storyline.

This was an enjoyable read, but I had a couple of issues that kept me from rating it higher. I felt the mid part of the book was one episode after another of Bindu railing at her circumstances and being angry at her husband. Considering the era it was, and the lack of rights women had then, I felt her constant adversarial stance became annoying, rather than admirable. I began to think she was so tiresome that I couldn't see what her husband saw in her. Another small, and maybe petty, complaint. Several times Bindu said she was searching for "agency", as in, becoming a whole person with rights. I have only heard this word used in that way the last few years, and certainly don't think it would have been in 1939, so it was jarring to me.

The overall end message of the book was uplifting and one of hope.

I appreciate being allowed to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. Thank you to NetGalley, Renita D'Silva, and Bookoutre. I would rate this read a 3.25 for me.

[Prasanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found my interest in this book ebbing and flowing especially in the first 50% of the book. It definitely took me a long time to complete this book. The chapters alternated between the two main characters, Bindu and Eve, in two different timelines and its also set in two different continents. I felt Eve's chapters slowed down Bindu's narrative in the beginning of the book.

Bindu is a headstrong, resourceful and an intelligent girl who wants to change her and her grandmother's fortunes by securing a scholarship and moving to the city for her higher education. Her grandmother is an excellent cook and prepares food for the feasts organized by the local landlord. She also cooks for the villagers in exchange for other necessary items or services. Bindu along with her studies helps her ajji and she realizes that she is a gifted cook, just like her ajji. But Bindu's ajji's health is fast deteriorating and Bindu is worried about her and wants to provide the best of medical treatment to ajji. Bindu's character arc is remarkable and although she comes across as obstinate and sometimes the cause of her own problems, her determination to help the lives of the villagers is depicted in multiple scenarios. The backdrop of India's independence era and the setting of a remote village in Karnataka was captured brilliantly in Bindu's chapters.

Eve's narrative is set in the 1980's England and having lost her husband and daughter in an accident, she has stopped writing and never steps out of her house. But when her kind, next door neighbor is hospitalized and Eve has no choice but to take upon the role of a temporary guardian to her 11 year old daughter, Eve gets a chance to rebuild her life and connect with her birthmother through the book of Indian recipes. The last few chapters brings Bindu's and Eve's stories together in an emotional way.

I enjoyed listening to the book and the narrator Nikki Patel has done a brilliant job. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reinta D’Silvia has written a classic tale of a young women who comes from a very poor family in India who has to make hard sacrifices to save herself and her family.

As Bindu is born her mother dies, and she is thought to be a symbol of bad luck. She is raised in a village in a one room hut by Ajji who is her grandmother and provider. Bindu has many gifts. Among them are her fierce determination, her intelligence, and her cooking skills that she acquires in the kitchen hut with her grandmother who cooks for the big landowner and others.

Bindu marries and gives up on her dreams of going on with her education. Feeling very trapped she was not able to convince her husband to allow her more freedom to contribute to his world and be more than just a conventional princess in fine clothes and jewelry. Behind her husband’s back she starts to write recipes and contribute to a magazine that is run by a Brit. This of course comes to a firing end, and she births her child alone, and without giving too much away, this is a pivotal moment.

At alternating chapters we meet Eve who lives in London, and has just experienced a deep tragedy that has forced her to retreat from daily life. As her next door neighbor needs her help for an emergency, Eve begins to come out of her shell and we make a connection with a treasure gift of an Indian cookbook that was given to her by her stepfather. This cookbook is a key to her past, and as she begins to feel stronger, she decides she must unlock its secrets.

I think the story was interesting, but as a reader I found it very repetitive, and I got bored. Even though the chapters are short, the story dragged and I just wasn’t motivated to race to the end.

I certainly wasn’t hooked, and I am an avid reader. The overall story is thin, and could have been told shorter but with a few more twists and turns, as the struggles seemed too trite and have been rehashed in many other books.

[Bel lvndrgms3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre/Tropes: historical fiction
CW/TW: traumatic childbirth, traumatic deaths (off page)

A touching story told in dual POV and timelines, about Bindu who grew up in a small Indian village in the 1930s, and her daughter Eve in the 1980s who has a collection of her mother’s recipes.

Bindu was orphaned, and raised by her doting grandmother. While villagers saw her as cursed, Ajji saw her as a blessing. She’d assist Ajji in making spices, meals, and remedies for the locals. Bindu excelled at the local school, and wanted to use her education to overcome their poverty. However Ajji became sick, and needed western medicine to save her. With no options, Bindu married the village’s landlord’s son to have access to that.

Bindu sacrificed her dreams to save Ajji, and went from being an outspoken person to one stifled by the patriarchal norms of that time. She tried to facilitate change through her husband, and was constantly denied.

I liked the depiction of village life, the surroundings, description of the mixing of spices, Bindu’s ambitious and defiant nature. I admire a FMC with such grit.

What I wished was a little different - Eve’s connection - or lack thereof - to Bindu. Granted I know Eve didn’t know her mother, but I was hoping for something a little ‘magical’ whenever Eve tried any of her recipes. What was Eve thinking and feeling as she mixed those spices? How did it help her with her grief? I guess I just needed to feel a little more of that from her.

I was enthralled by Bindu’s story, and I definitely recommend this inspirational read!

Thank you @bookouture for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book...so beautiful and 💔

D'Silva writes about the life of Bindu in India, as she grows from girl to woman, and shifts from child to wife to mother. Bindu grew up in poverty, raised by her grandmother, but married the son of the most powerful man in their village. She is a hard headed, independent woman who feels imprisoned by her husband, Guru. She fights for the people of her village and garners a better life for all of them. We also get brief glimpses into the adult life of Eve, in London as the book flips chapters between the two stories. Eve is still dealing with the loss of both her husband and daughter, but finds comfort in cooking from her birth mother's recipes. Both women have experienced lots of tragedy in their lives, but have persevered and demonstrate the strength and power of women.

This is the first book I've read by D'Silva and after reading this book, I'm ready to pick up her others. The writing was wonderful and made you fall in love with these characters. Once you understand how the two stories of Bindu and Eve connect, the book gets even more enticing. Despite seeing where things were leading, I was still crying at the end. Definitely recommend this one!

Thank you NetGalley and Bolinda Audio for providing me with the ARC audiobook.

[Brittney · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Spice Maker’s Secret, by Renita D’Silva, is a sad, heartwarming, sometimes frustrating, and inspiring story. We follow Bindu in early 1900’s India from girlhood into adulthood. She lives with her grandmother in the village and helps her with cooking. Bindu is independent, stubborn and hardheaded, which alternately benefits her and gets in her way. In a future timeline, 1990, we meet Eve. Eve has recently lost her husband and daughter and is barely surviving. It’s clear that Eve is somehow related to Bindu, but we’re not immediately sure how.

I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it. The narrator, Nikki Patel, did a fantastic job. It was easy to follow which timeline we were in and which character was speaking throughout the novel. I looked forward to listening and finding out how the story would progress. I also appreciated the Indian food and spice descriptions.

I have one major criticism, not about the novel, but about the blurb. It gives away too much and some of it is flat out inaccurate to the novel. Someone needs to read the novel and then rewrite it.

Special thanks to Bolinda Audio for the audiobook ARC via NetGalley.

[Elizabeth Holland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook review


This is a beautiful story with emotive descriptions. Both the author and the narrator brought the story to life with the description of Bindu's home and cooking. I could taste and smell the spices and Bindu's cooking! Immediately, I felt as though I'd been transported to India and immersed in the story.

The Spice Maker's Secret is a dual-timeline which follows Bindu and Eve's lives. Bindu is living in 1930 India, while Eve is in 1980s England. Both women know heartbreak and loss. Their stories are equally heartbreaking and heartwarming. Bindu is a progressive woman who wants independence and equality for herself, women, and the village she grew up in. She fights for what she believes in and for those she loves, but by doing so she finds herself trapped in an unhappy marriage. Meanwhile, Eve is grieving the loss of her husband and child. Both women are fighting to find their purpose in life.

This audiobook was beautifully narrated and really brought the story to life. I'd highly recommend both the book and the narrator to other readers.


*Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review*

[MaryAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! The reader was fabulous and I could feel the desperation of the characters. Bindu was such a complex character with strength and fire in her personality. I could really feel her desperation to change her fate. I also loved the friend who became her maid. She was a good friend. It's hard to understand the traditions of other cultures, but I really felt the value of the traditions yet the limitations to women. Enlightening to see the chains of poverty when there are also chains in the traditions. Lovely book! One I would gladly recommend to others to read.

Thanks Bolinda Audio and NetGalley for this ARC!

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well-written, culturally-rich story about life, love, hardship, loss, persistence, and following your dreams. I found myself immersed in the Indian culture from clothing, customs, and even food while also experiencing all the emotions of the characters in the story! Truly a lovely journey!

I did listen to this on audio, and found the narrator to be pleasant and easy to follow. I did not have any issues with the narration, playback, or pacing.

🧚🏻Thank you to NetGalley, Bolinda Audio, and author Renita D'Silva for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Kate Eminhizer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provided a wonderfully fascinating look at Indian culture, specifically Indian food and women's rights. Bindu was a character that readers will both love and hate. At times she threw temper tantrums like a petulant child, at others she was successfully maneuvering for the betterment of the villagers. Eve's story was a beautiful one of love and grief and renewal.

[Mandy O'Brien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately I found this book very repetitive which was frustrating. I struggled to finish it. I did like the narration of the audio book.