This memoir didn't resonate with me. I didn't enjoy the writing style as I found it repetitive. Certain ideas were excessively laboured within the same paragraph but also over the book as a whole. Yet, there seemed to be little development. It also seemed a little melodramatic and fanciful. Because of this I never really grasped a sense of place or recognised any sort of journey or moving forward by the author.

This is a touching read, following a woman who is seeking a new life after the loss of her mother.

She's always lived in the city, so to swap city life for rural Wales was a big step but she knew she needed something new, and after a holiday with her husband they took the plunge to move and see what life could offer them there.

What I enjoyed was the style of writing and the discoveries she made while she was living this more rural, isolated life. It made her stop to take time to look around and notice the small things, and just the simple pleasure of a walk in nature would take her out of herself and focus on what she saw. Meeting the locals also proved to be a big help in her 'healing' especially Wilf, who lived the simplest of lives and was more than content with his lot. That's what the author had lost sight of, so it felt like Wilf was put into her life to make her appreciate the small things and pleasures of nature.

The quiet life was a real revelation to her and I loved how she interspersed her new life in Wales, with looking back over her family history and the dark times during her mothers' illness. She also takes us through the seasons with her, so there's always something new to look forward to and you really get the sense that her eyes were really opened as to what life should be about.

it's a beautifully written memoir as she paints a vivid picture of her new life and surroundings. A very enjoyable read and reinforces the saying that nature really does heal the soul.

***advance review copy received from NetGalley in return for an honest review***
I found it really hard to find the motivation to finish this book, as I found nothing in it compelling.
For me, this reads like someone went on a gap year to Thailand or India and came back spiritualising every tiny moment of it - except, in this book, it’s a city girl moving to Wales.
None of the characters we meet - including, incredibly, the author herself - feel remotely real. They speak in cliche philosophical soundbites, and feel to me as though they are lifted from various Enid Blyton farm stories rather than real life.
I was expecting this book would be more about the author learning to deal with her grief over the death of her mother, and whilst she of course does touch on that, the book is really about a fish out of water learning basic countryside facts, which I didn’t find particularly interesting.

I don't normally read bereavement memoirs, which is what I think this would be counted as, as I was more attracted by the subtitle, "Life in the Wilds of Wales" and the author's name, which indicated some kind of South Asian heritage. I also didn't notice it was one of those NetGalley books that's only available through the Shelf app, which makes for a less smooth reading experience:

Reading this book on my tablet through the NetGalley shelf app was a slightly tricky job, as it came out in double-spread pages in an odd font, with the next page accessed by swiping downwards, so you had to go left - right - down diagonally to the left - right, etc., and there were a lot of short chapters which meant there might be a blank left-hand page, getting you flustered. You can also only bookmark a page (in this case, sometimes it came out as a double page) rather than highlighting text, making it difficult to remember what exact bits you want to mention in your review. Anyway, reader, I did manage.

This is a memoir of the move Sidhu and her husband Simon made to a small village in Wales a couple of years after the death of her mother (Sidhu was 40, her mother 62) and subsequent family fall-out. Fleeing their city life in London, they adapt to what they at first think is quiet and isolation, but they soon find they can hear all the sounds of nature and see their neighbours across the fields, knowing their routines as well as their own. They're helped to settle in by the people from the B'n'B they stay in on their first visit, people with their own family troubles, and they get to know other residents and incomers, including the farmer, Wilf, with whom Sidhu has profound conversations that often make them both weep.

Sidhu doesn't mention her Indian heritage much, apart from musing on how Indian women are often put upon wherever they are, and that she was uncomfortable with the assumption she did or should have children when she went to visit relatives there. She notes it's odd to be a Brown woman in a rural Welsh setting, but also notes that everyone's different there and you are compelled into companionship with people with whom you have little in common; also, everything has been there for centuries and is infinite so that pales into insignificance. There was an interesting bit about how her dual heritage made her more flexible and able to accept multiple perspectives.

As the year turns, they settle in and see how a different life can be lived. Although it seems like her horizons are smaller, there is so much more detail and texture, and she mulls over this and what is often called "chosen family" which she finds here. Healing happens, and acceptance that the expected ways are not always the best ones, especially around Christmas, the time her mother passed away, which now is the most painful season. Some sad animal stuff happens, but it's not gratuitous or told in detail. There's a pleasing map of the valley in the front of the book.

So although this was more of a bereavement memoir than I expected and might be difficult to read if you're losing someone (or comforting, as she finds her way through) there was a lot of value in it for me.

My blog review here published 4 Jan 2024: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2024/01/04/book-review-kiran-sidhu-i-can-hear-the-cuckoo/

I have always believed ‘memoir’ as a genre is a tough nut to crack; it is because you have to tell your real-life (boring) story in an immersive tone and pace to keep your readers engaged - not an easy task by any means.

Here, in I Can Hear the Cuckoo: Life in the Wilds of Wales, Kiran is doubly challenged to tell her painful tale of her mother’s loss during Christmas Eve and her subsequent burial on New Year’s Eve, which she can never enjoy as others; indeed, she has never enjoyed this festive season due to her father’s alcoholism during her childhood days and her mother’s demise in adulthood.

Yet the author writes a compelling and meditative narrative nonfiction that is cathartic, bringing in hope in us that death is inevitable, has to be accepted, and we can move on by finding happiness in little things with nature’s glory and humans’ humility.

This book is divided into four sections, classified according to the seasonal changes that accompany the various other demands upon people, their work, food, culture, and so on and so forth.

For Kiran, family has never been supportive, except for her mother and a caring husband. After her mother’s loss, she cannot handle the psychological and mental agony, so she makes the drastic choice of leaving the luxurious city life and settling in the Welsh valley in The Long Barn cottage, her new home, surrounded by mountains, lakes, and a plethora of flora and fauna with extreme Welsh (winter) weather when it arrives.

She learns and knows how village life works on a daily basis as a clockwork; she also learns new skills, which are necessary when you live in a no-man’s land of sorts: handling the electric stuff, tackling when livestock enter your corridor, caring for hurt birds, slaughtering pigs, which she would not have in her wildest imagination.

These kinds of books require slow-paced reading, where one needs to sync in and assimilate the character’s emotional and psychological hurt from loss, and travel with them to find a recuperative resolution to become a resilient person. Memoir teaches you how to handle real-life situations (here, we see grief and loss) through the writer’s vision.

Some of my favourite episodic chapters in this memoir are ‘The Slaughter of Pigs’, ‘The Cries of the Lambs’, ‘The Bird of Prey Who Came to Tea’, ‘Writer’s Block’, ‘The Secret Highlands’, and ‘Christmas Eve’.

After reading this memoir, do watch Heart Valley, an award-winning short documentary on the life of Wilf Davies, a 73-year-old farmer who eats the same food for more than 10 years and has never left country life for city life in his lifetime. This heart-touching 19-minute video of a Welsh shepherd is a must-watch and highly recommended, as is the memoir.

This was a great read to see the growth of connecting with nature and those around us. Beautifully written.