The Fishing Fleet – Anne de Courcy

A little over a year ago I wrote a review of this book and you can read it here. Then yesterday, I was sent the link to an interview that the author did in Australia, for Adelaide Week in March 2013.

I have to say I was very surprised and enjoyed hearing the author talk of her findings and how she wove the details together into the book.

The subject is fascinating and my own interest, because I have family who left rural Surrey in the 1760's to head to India, has been reawakened and I am therefore inspired to re-read the book.

The Fishing Fleet – Anne de Courcy

When the author was undertaking her research we did correspond rather briefly, but my interest regarding my ancestral links to India was out of the time frame for Anne's book.

I waited rather eagerly for the book to be published. Once it hit the shelves of my local library I managed to grab the book and then quietly enjoy it.

The book looks at women who migrated to India looking for a husband during the period of the mid 19th Century until 1947, when India gained it's Independence.

I loved the colour of the cover which for me set the tone of the book. I enjoyed the depth of the research, which was gathered from letters and memoirs of the time and the focus of the book.

There is a suitable explanation of why the women were there, and why they risked travelling the globe to find a husband, but there was little detail on how the women adapted to the change in culture and their experiences. The author further explores the processes in India at this time, the bureaucracy of India and mixed raced children and how they were viewed.

Despite all that, I was a little disappointed. There is little scope given to how these women coped, not only with the country and culture, but also how they experienced married life with the men they met in India. I felt as though the author ran out of steam with the subject matter before the end of the book.

I enjoyed it, but it could have been better.