Sunshine Soup, Nourishing the Global Soul
Dubai 2008.
In this multicultural melting pot, six women search for meaning in a life judged by many to be charmed and superficial. As first-timers, lifers and love immigrants operate within the expat bubble a darker side emerges – of culture shock, loss of identity, depression, temptation and grief.
Newcomer, Maya, navigates the unfamiliar while the sand beneath Barb’s feet begins to shift. Stereotypes are smashed as the reality of life amidst shopping malls and housemaids rises to the surface.
As humid days get cooler, the plot deepens/soup thickens and the expats discover what really matters. For Maya the secret lies in the kitchen – a place that is no longer her domain.
This novel, which includes extra material for reading groups and 20 recipes created in the kitchen of Maya Winter, will inspire the reader in many ways. Not only is it a good story, but if you read between the lines you will also learn much about how to be happy and fulfilled abroad. Issues such as loss of identity, mobile careers, the third culture kid, mixed marriages and depression all appear, which is why the book could also be viewed as a parable.
Anita Burgh, author of 22 best selling novels wrote:As she does in her fabulous non-fiction books, in Sunshine Soup, Jo Parfitt makes the challenges of being a mobile wife ring stunningly true.
Susan Macaulay, Creator & Curator, AmazingWomenRock.com wrote:An interesting and evocative read. A peep into another world.
Stephanie Katz, editor Expat Arrivals wrote:A great story, well told! It will sell like hotcakes.
Candid, forthcoming and insightful; Parfitt throws open the curtains and unveils a window into the life of the modern expat wife. What we find can be as hard to swallow as it is empowering, but the journey she takes us on is honest and inspiring, and the realities of relocation all but leap off the page. Sunshine Soup manages to be both thoroughly enjoyable and deceptively informative