Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens

Welcome to Cinnamon Gardens, a home for those who are lost and the stories they treasure.

Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home is nestled in the quiet suburb of Westgrove, Sydney – populated with residents with colourful histories, each with their own secrets, triumphs and failings. This is their safe place, an oasis of familiar delights – a beautiful garden, a busy kitchen and a bountiful recreation schedule.

But this ordinary neighbourhood is not without its prejudices. The serenity of Cinnamon Gardens is threatened by malignant forces more interested in what makes this refuge different rather than embracing the calm companionship that makes this place home to so many. As those who challenge the residents’ existence make their stand against the nursing home with devastating consequences, our characters are forced to reckon with a country divided.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is about family and memory, community and race, but is ultimately a love letter to storytelling and how our stories shape who we are.

Song of the Sun God by Shankari Chandran

Song of the Sun God

Nala and Rajan, a young couple, begin their married life in 1946, on the eve of Ceylon’s independence from Britain.  Arranged in marriage, they learn to love each other and protect their growing family, against the backdrop of increasing ethnic tension.

As the country descends into a bloody civil war, Nala and Rajan must decide which path is best for their family; and live with the consequences of their mistakes.

Over time, Nala and Rajan teach their family why some parts of their history and heritage are worth holding onto; and why some parts and people have to be left behind.

Song of the Sun God spans three continents and three generations of a family that remains dedicated to its homeland, whilst learning to embrace its new home.

Funny at times, warm and tender at others, we see Nala and Rajan’s family navigate war, migration, old loyalties and new beginnings, relying on the philosophy of their religion, their ancestors and each other.

Song of the Sun God is about the wisdom, mistakes and sacrifices of our past that enable us to live more freely in the future. It is about finding home and forgiving family.

Another Australia (Anthology)

Twelve diverse writers reveal another Australia hidden behind, beneath and beside the country we think we know.

by Sweatshop

A suburban psychic’s ominous warning. A conversation in Yuwaalaraay. A glimpse of a shameful, hidden history. A love that moves a mountain. In this unwavering follow-up to After Australia, twelve more boundary-pushing Indigenous writers and writers of colour show us all that is and could exist in our versions of Australia.

Featuring Shankari Chandran, Osman Faruqi, Declan Fry, Amani Haydar, Shirley Le, L-FRESH the LION, Mohammed Massoud Morsi, Omar Musa, Sisonke Msimang, Sara Saleh, Nardi Simpson and Anne Marie Te Whiu.

The Barrier

The Barrier is a fast-paced literary thriller, set in a world destroyed by a virulent strain of Ebola and religious wars. It is 2040 and the surviving nations have been reorganized into the Western and Eastern Alliance. One side subjugates the other, using a vaccine, a virus and religion as its means of control.

Virologist, Dr Noah Williams has been sent by the Department for Biological Integrity in the West, to investigate a rogue scientist in the East. Is the scientist undermining the global vaccination programme? Is he planning another disastrous Ebola epidemic?

Noah finds his scientific, interrogation and diplomacy skills are tested in this complex post-conflict landscape where Western hegemony masquerades as political stability – and religious fundamentalism distracts us from far more insidious forces at play.

Recovering from the death of his young daughter and the breakdown of his marriage, Noah agrees to one last mission for the Western Alliance. It will take him from Chennai to Washington DC to London to Colombo – but also on an inner journey that challenges his faith in the deities of our time: God, country and corporations.

The Barrier explores how the history of our species is the history of war and contagion. It asks: what would happen if both attacked us at the same time? What kind of future would we be left with?

The Barrier was published by Pan Macmillan Australia in June 2017 and was chosen by iBooks as one of its Books of the Month for June 2017.

© Copyright - Shankari Chandran