Spotlight Post for: Sunshine Clinic: A Novel with Recipes 

Book Summary of Sunshine Clinic: A Novel with Recipes

This is the stand-alone conclusion to a family saga that started with My Mother’s Kitchen and its sequel, Seeing Ceremony.

The main character in this story is a young woman named Thangam. When she was five years old, Thangam had a favorite yellow slicker, which she wore to school every day. One day, she while playing on the monkey bars, Thangam falls down and is helped up by a new boy she has never seen before. His eyes reminded her of blue skies over Mahagiri. The boy said she looked like a sunny-side-up egg and called her sunny.  Thangam liked the nickname so much she asked her family and friends to call her by her new name. It turns out the boy who gave her the nickname is no other than the handsome Scotsman she would meet (and fall in love with) later in the book.

Sunny’s story begins as she returns home after a grueling few years of medical school. Instead of working in a big city hospital, she decides to settle down in her childhood home of Mahagiri. It is a hard decision because all her life, she has grown up in the shadow of her older sister Meena (the heroine of the previous two books) and her strong-willed mother, known locally as Little Mother.

She finds herself as a village doctor in the adjoining village and soon settles into her work. Her first case is a young girl who has epilepsy.  Sunny interrupts the girl’s treatment (she was being beaten to drive out the demon causing the fits) and meets a local woman, Bhadra, who claims to be a spokesperson for the Goddess. With Bhadra’s help, Sunny is able to help many villagers. One such villager is a middle-aged woman who believes she is pregnant (it turns out it was actually a tumor, and Sunny, with Bhadra’s assistance, gets the woman to the hospital).

The book is filled with many such situations. Some are heartbreaking, such as the death of a young boy after being mauled by a jaguar.

In the secondary plot, Sunny meets handsome Scotsman Callum McPhearson while hiking with her dog Karu. She treats Callum for an infection, and they become friends. Sunny thinks she is falling in love with Callum and rushes to his estate to share her feelings but is surprised and hurt to find his ex-girlfriend, Ella. (Ella is wearing Callum’s shirt).

Sunny has no time to dwell on her feelings because her sister Meena is rushed to the hospital with pregnancy complications. 

Callum is devastated when he finds out Sunny is not talking to him. He wants to explain that Ella was visiting without an invitation. Still, Sunny has no time for him because her housekeeper has been attacked. Her beloved dog Karu was injured in the attack by a deranged drug addict. Callum is the hero when he saves the housekeeper and the dog.

Callum’s housekeeper, Shanta, suggests he ask for Sunny’s hand in marriage—village style. This meant Callum had to offer Sunny a cow and propose to her in front of the entire village. Even though he felt ridiculous in a turban, Callum did what Shanta suggested. He was successful! This book’s laugh-out-loud ending, delicious food descriptions, and bonus recipes will make it

Publisher: Fleets Bay Press

Publish date: March 24, 2024

No. of pages: 315

Amazon Link (US Only): Amazon.com: Sunshine Clinic: A Novel with Recipes: 9798990251502: Klein, Meera Ekkanath: Books

EDITORIAL REVIEW: Readers’ Favorite Review: 

Sunny doesn’t want to become the second daughter and live in her big sister’s shadow. Instead, she considers providing healthcare services to the people of her village. Subsequently, Sunny begins her practitioner duties and experiences the joy and pain of being a doctor. From losing people and being at the right place to save the sick to witnessing deplorable acts, her days as a doctor are filled with emotional situations and compelling stories. Sunny also finds herself forming a bond with a charming foreigner called Callum and receiving advice from Bhadra, a superstitious character who never stops talking about “the goddess.” Meera Ekkanath Klein’s Sunshine Clinic is a riveting tale about a doctor’s practice in a small village and the string of diverse medical cases she attends to as she seeks balance and explores the longing of the heart.

Meera’s story makes you feel warm and close to its characters from start to finish. The calm pace reflects the atmosphere of a small farming village. However, the serenity is sometimes interrupted by medical emergencies, which compel an eagerness to see the patients healed. Sunshine Clinic’s themes are quite magical and evocative, especially those of communal values, food, love, and the spiritual world. Some of these themes engender curiosity and suspense, like when Callum appears to have another girlfriend and when Bhadra predicts the future. Ultimately, Sunshine Clinic is a masterfully constructed story that’s perfect for reading relaxation. Readers will be captivated by its blend of charming characters, dire emergencies, and a sensational love story. If I see another book by Meera Ekkanath Klein, I will grab it without hesitation. I can’t wait to try the mouth-watering recipes at the end.

Author website: Meera Klein

AUTHOR BIO

 Award-winning author, Meera Ekkanath Klein, deftly weaves her love of cooking and storytelling into irresistible tales. My Mother’s Kitchen: A novel with recipes (2014, Homebound Publications) and Seeing Ceremony: A Novel With Recipes (2020, Homebound Publications).

Seeing Ceremony was named Grand Prize Winner (3^rd place) in Fiction, 2021 Indie Excellence Awards. The book was also selected as Best Second Novel, Indie Excellence Awards, 2021. It was named Best Romance Fiction by Feathered Quill Awards, 2021.

My Mother’s Kitchen has won numerous awards and was selected as a Winner in the 2015 International Book Awards in the Multi-Cultural Fiction category. The book was also selected as Finalist in the 2015 National Indie Excellence Book Awards and in 2015 Beverly Hills International Book Awards, both in the Multi-Cultural Fiction category.  

A former newspaper reporter and columnist, Klein, honed her writing skills in a busy newsroom. She mastered the art of Indian cooking in her own mother’s kitchen in the beautiful Blue Mountains or Nilgiris of south India.

Her poetry, short stories and essays have been published in numerous online magazines, including Zibby Mag, The Ethel (The AARP online magazine), As/Us: Writers of the World and in Eternal Snow, an anthology put together by Nepalese poet Yuyutsu Sharma. She is a book reviewer for New York Journal of Books and an editor for FEMASIA magazine.

She has participated in the Authors on the Move fundraiser for the Sacramento Library Foundation and was featured on Capital Public Radio.

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