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The Sandalwood Tree
The Sandalwood Tree
Nov 16, 2025 7:22 AM

Author:Elle Newmark

The Sandalwood Tree

It is 1947, and Evie and Martin Mitchell have just arrived in the Indian village of Masoorla with their five-year-old son. But cracks soon appear in their marriage as Evie struggles to adapt to her new life, and Martin fails to bury unbearable wartime memories.

When Evie finds a collection of letters, concealed deep in the brickwork of their rented bungalow, so begins an investigation that consumes her, allowing her to escape to another world, a hundred years earlier, and to the extraordinary friendship of two very different young women.

And as Evie's fascination with her Victorian discoveries deepens, she unearths powerful secrets. But at what cost to her present, already fragile existence?

Reviews

A very promising new author

—— New Books Magazine

Elle Newmark tells a powerful tale of romance and mystery

—— News of the World

Murder Mile is the second outing for DI Rob Brennan, a complex and brooding character who makes Rebus look positively chipper by comparison ... With Murder Mile Tony Black has put the heart back into the serial killer novel. It’s dark, yes, and deeply unpleasant in places, as it should be, but he hasn’t played to shock and there’s a refreshing lack of cheap gore. Rob Brennan is the perfect guide to follow through the criminal underworld, a bundle of rage and righteousness, and after reading Murder Mile the next fictional DI you come across will have a lot to live up to

—— Crime Fiction Lover

A convincing portrayal

—— Sun

Brennan’s Edinburgh roils and seethes with violence

—— Metro

One of the best of her early novels... it is written with luminous intensity

—— Jane Shilling , Evening Standard, Books of the Year

This is Nemrovsky's most autobiographical novel...recalled in hauntingly atmospheric detail

—— Peter Kemp , Sunday Times, Books of the Year

It's an unerring portrait of a neglected, baleful and punitive daughter

—— Julian Barnes , Guardian, Books of the Year

Nemirovksy captures the rootless existence of emigres beautifully

—— Shirley Whiteside , Herald

Sandra Smith's translation is mellifluous and certain passages - the opening lines describing dusk in Kiev, for example - are breathtaking

—— Angel Gurria-Quintana , Financial Times

Némirovsky excels at describing this dysfunctional household

—— Marianne Brace , Independent

Sandra Smith’s translation of the novel faithfully reflects Nemirovsky’s talents as an astute portraitist and storyteller

—— Emma Hagestadt , Guardian

Nemirovsky evokes a time and a place when domestic upheaval could prove every bit as tragic and bloody as those played out on a wider stage

—— Emma Hagestadt , Independent
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