Wow, what a book. One of the best I’ve read for a while that I know will stick with me. I want to preface this with some trigger warnings of drug addiction, death and some religious references.

The Direction of the Wind is a story about Sophie, a woman from India, who has just lost her father and is wondering what her life will be like now she has no parents, after her mother died when she was young. Well, or so she thought. She discovers her mum didn’t die when she was young, she moved to Paris and Sophie goes there to try and find out what happened to her.

First, what I liked most about this story was the cultural references. I’ve not read many books set in Indian culture and so whilst I can’t say how true to culture it is, I found the insight into that world fascinating and the mix of it with the western world was great to read.

I also admired Sophie and her strength, she’s a character who admits her flaws and works on them all throughout the novel and I loved the character development of her.

The story doesn’t have the ending we expect throughout the book which is that Sophie would be reunited with her mum but I loved where the story ended up - I love that it didn’t have the ending I thought it would. The way that Nora’s drug addiction was described and managed throughout was wonderful writing - I think the author did a great job with a really sensitive subject and although it’s a huge trigger warning I thought it was dealt with delicately. The way it’s painted is heartbreakingly sad, especially with Vijay finding his mum and being so hungry and her not even being able to feed her son. It’s a huge reality for some people and I’ve not read many books where it’s described in that level of detail and I feel was done right in this book.

There really wasn’t anything about this story I didn’t like - all the characters bought something that was so right to this book. I do wish that Simon had stayed alive - I’d have loved for Sophie to have seen her mum through his eyes, that to me was the only slightly needless death and I think would have added a wonderful layer to the story, especially if we’d have got that clarification on if Vijay was his.

But for me this was a 5* read and I won’t forget this novel for a while.