Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

When the Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home was established in a suburb in western Sydney it was to be a place where older people from all backgrounds and religions could live together during their final days. The owners of the nursing home relocated to Australia after the turmoil of the civil war in Sri Lanka, especially the persecution of Tamils. Although many of the residents were from Sri Lanka and followed the Hindu religion people from other countries and religions also lived at Cinnamon Gardens. It was a place of peace until the nursing home and staff were targeted because, in the views of some people, they were 'un-Australian'.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran is about family and memory, community and race. Much of the novel describes the atrocities that occur in a civil war largely based on race and religion. It also emphasises the importance of history in truly understanding the past and the dangers of reinventing the past to prove current actions and beliefs. 

The novel is particularly relevant in Australia (and other countries) today as some groups try to assert their beliefs, especially in regard to religion and ethnicity, to prove their superiority over others who may appear to be different.

In this novel the story is set in Sri Lanka during the war and in present day Sydney. As we learn about the past history we also learn about the present and come to know the main people portrayed in the book. We also learn about Sri Lankan food.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandranis the winner of the 2023 Miles Franklin Award awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases".