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.

Fact Fiction Friday ~ Heading to India

Continuing our new and regular feature here at Historical Fiction.  

Each Friday we will publish an historical fact based upon the date. Each fact will be accompanied by a book(s) title and perhaps a review or other snippet.

24th January 1857 ~ The University of Calcutta was founded as the first University in Asia. Today there are two books to accompany the fact. First is The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. This book I read back in 2005. From my brief notes I enjoyed it as it made my top ten of the year!

The second book is a book I read more recently, I think back in 2013. I recall being excited to read it, and the book was good, but it could have been so much better. That book is The Fishing Fleet by Anne De Courcy

White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India by William Dalrymple

The June choice for our reading group was The White Mughals by William Dalrymple. The comments from the group were split into essentially three camps, those that loved it, those who read it and persevered and those who hated it.

I fell into the loved it camp and I did love it. The book took the author 5 years to write. It is thoroughly researched and painstakingly written, threading the storyline together with the use of historical documents and probable hypothesis when the documentation can not support the theory.

The book is based upon the surviving papers and diaries from 18th Century British aristocrats who spent many years in India. What is shown is India in context with history; the defeat of Napoleon in Egypt for example. The book explores the culture exchange, where many of the men in the region "go native" with local women and then send the children back to England to be educated. The book explores the Christian/Muslim/Hindu exchange which was perfectly acceptable in the 18th Century, alas when the 19th Century appears that exchange and the "go native" approach is scorned and unaccepted.

The book does cover the romance of James Achilles Kirkpatrick who was a promising British resident in Hyderabad, and a young noblewoman and descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, called Khair-un-Nissa and whilst this romance is essentially the backbone of the book, it in some ways fades into the background amongst the historical aspects of India and the region at this time.

Even so, I loved the book, I loved the provision of sources and notes and the depth of research and for me this has to be the read of the year.

Thursday Threads - What and Where are You Reading?

Well, another week has just flown by, where does the time go?

On Monday the book group I attend every month met up and discussed the last book which was The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams. You can check out my review HERE. 

As always the discussion that flowed through our meeting was informative and interesting and left clutching next month's book, which is proving to be very interesting and enjoyable. 

The book in question is The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple. This is actually a non fiction book and was not selected by me, so I am quite intrigued to discover who in the group chose this title. As regular readers will note I am fascinated in India especially on the period pre Independence. This is fuelled by my family connection to the East India Company.

This weekend in the UK is a day extra as Monday is a public holiday. The forecast for the weekend is looking promising, or it least it was this morning, so I plan to get some reading done as the Last Mughal is a little over 600 pages.

What and where are you reading this week?

The Ruling Caste by David Gilmour

Recently, I have been focusing my genealogical time on India as I work on a book about part of my family who spent time in India. Nothing special, except the research has unravelled some real surprises and I felt the stories were worthy of being shared through a wider audience.

As part of that research I wanted to fully understand India during the Victorian period and I came across The Ruling Caste by David Gilmour.

As always I turned to the index and was delighted to see a reference to another family connection.

It is those references I thought I would share here -

"Lewin Bowring felt that the great void in his life was travel. In 1854 he therefore set off on a long journeys through Rajputana, China (where his father, whom he had not seen for 10 years, was Governor of Hong Kong), France, Italy and Central Europe (which he toured three times), and the British Isles, where he inspected seventeen cathedrals" (page 276 Source Unpublished Memoirs).

"Lewin Bowring, who joined the Bengal Civil Service in 1843, won several prizes at Haileybury for Persian, Sanskrit and Hindustani. Yet on arrival in India he found his proficiency in these languages was "nearly useless" "(Page 40 Source Unpublished Memoirs)

I think we always assume that those who travelled to overseas destinations did so with little chance of returning home. That is a inaccurate. The amount of travel depended on your means in terms of financial and your status. The family whom I have been researching made several journeys, yet the time it took to travel and the conditions must have been very trying.

Thursday Threads - Historical Fiction Surprises

Carrying on from the genealogical research that I have been doing of late and I spotted in the library The Ruling Caste by David Gilmour. I turned to the index to have a look for any references to the name of Bellasis, and instead found a mention of a family member, Lewin Betham Bowing, which was a great surprise.

So this week's question is -

Have you had any Historical Fiction Surprises?

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.

Thursday Threads - Expectations of Historical Fiction

I have been doing some genealogical research and subsequent reading about India during the period of 1790 - 1830. I have just finished reading The Fishing Fleet by Anne de Courcy and it wasn't what I was expecting, but not in a negative way. A review up soon....I promise!

So this week's question is -

What Historical Fiction book have your read that didn't quite fit your expectations of it?

Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna

The year is 1878. As the first girl to be born to the Nachimandas in over sixty years, beautiful, spirited Devi is adored by her entire family. She befriends Devanna, a gifted young boy whose mother has died in tragic circumstances. The two quickly become inseparable, 'like two eggs in a nest', as they grow up amidst the luscious jungles, rolling hills, and rich coffee plantations of Coorg in Southern India; cocooned by an extended family whose roots have been sunk in the land for hundreds of years.

Their futures seem inevitably linked, but everything changes when, one night, they attend a 'tiger wedding'. It is there that Devi gets her first glimpse of Machu, the celebrated tiger killer and a hunter of great repute. Although she is still a child and Machu is a man, Devi vows that one day she will marry him. It is this love that will gradually drive a wedge between Devi and Devanna, sowing the seed of a heartbreaking tragedy that will have consequences for the generations to come.

Whilst I haven't seen a lot around about this book, apparently it was a pretty big deal in India. The author received the biggest advance for a debut novel in Indian publishing history and has been translated into numerous languages as well. It seems to me that it also quite unusual for a piece of Indian historical fiction written by an Indian author makes it into English. I love reading historical fiction set in India but generally those books will be mainly focused on the British characters rather than the Indian characters. In this book, it is very much the other way around, with issues relating to colonisation taking only a small, but pivotal, role in the book.

The story starts in 1878 with the birth of the first girl to be born to the Nachimanda family for sixty years. Her name is Devi, and she is treated as a princess by the family - princess, not only when she is a child but also when she is older. Her childhood companion is a boy named Devanna. He practically becomes a member of the family after a tragedy leaves him an orphan. Devi and Devanna are inseparable!

Once they start to go to school, it is clear that Devi is a very clever young man and he is taken under the wing of the German missionary who runs the local school. Devi takes an avid interest in many subjects, but most especially in botany. Devi's future is so bright that there is even the prospect of an overseas education, until that choice is taken away from him before he even knows of it.

Devanna has long been in love with Devi and knows that they are feted to be together but unfortunately for him, she has set her sites on his cousin Machu, the tiger killer and she will settle for no one else.

When Devanna's education is cruelly cut short and Devi's choices are even more cruelly taken away from her, so begins a lifetime of hurt and pain for all the characters involved, and even for future generations.

This book has been compared to other famous sagas like The Thorn Birds and Gone With the Wind and to be honest it was this comparison that compelled me to want to read the book when I heard an interview with the author on NPR. Whilst it never quite reached the same heights in terms of the romance aspects, it was most definitely a book that I loved reading!

I would classify this book as more literary style of historical fiction. Amongst it's strengths were the use of the land and traditions of Coorg, a region in India now known as Kodagu and apparently referred to as the Scotland of India. During the span of 60 years or so, we see the changes that take place in India, including the battles fought by the British colonists, the establishment and importance of the coffee crops, culture superstition and class,  important national events such as the first Indian hockey team to play in the Olympics and many more. I suspect that Indian readers would really love some of the name checking of people that I have never heard of but who may well be important characters in Indian history.

There were certain scenes in the book that were so well written that my heart was in my mouth as I was reading them. For example, I am not sure that I will ever forget the scene where Machu is fighting alongside the English during a battle in the mountains.

There were however also weaknesses with the book as well though. The first, and biggest for me, was definitely Devi. She is portrayed as being so beautiful and so perfect, but by the end of the book she has become a hardened crone and she treated people, specifically her family pretty badly. She did have a hard life and was undoubtedly treated unforgivably, but then she made decisions that left her in the same situation ongoing. It took her many, many years to even think of what it was that Devanna has also suffered. Believe me, I am not excusing Devanna for his actions in the events by any stretch of the imagination, but it dragged out way too long.

The other thing that wasn't that strong was the very end of the novel. It really annoys me when an author carries a particular plot line and then suddenly in the last couple of pages turns everything on its head. It could well be that there is a sequel in the works, but I was left feeling manipulated by the last chapter or so.

There are also a few typos within the text, including in the back cover copy which is not the author's fault but is disappointing.

If you enjoy beautiful imagery, family sagas, books set in India, or just historical fiction with a setting outside of the more common European countries, then this may well be a book that you will enjoy.

Rating 4/5

East of The Sun by Julia Gregson

Summer 1928. The Kaiser-i-Hind is en route to Bombay. In Cabin D38, Viva Holloway, an inexperienced chaperone, is worried she's made a terrible mistake. Her advert in The Lady has resulted in three unsettling charges to be escorted to India.

Rose, a beautiful, dangerously naive English girl, is about to be married to the cavalry officer she has met only a handful of times. Victoria, her bridesmaid, is determined to lose her virginity on the journey, before finding a husband of her own in India. And overshadowing all three of them, the malevolent presence of Guy Glover, a strange and disturbed schoolboy.

Three potential Memsahibs with a myriad of reasons for leaving England, but the cargo of hopes and secrets they carry has done little to prepare them for what lies ahead.

From the parties of the wealthy Bombay socialites to the poverty of the orphans on Tamarind Street, East of the Sun is everything a historical novel should be: alive with glorious detail, fascinating characters and masterful storytelling.

This book was recommended to me a while back by both Marg and Alex. When I found a copy I immediately decided I had to take it home with me and so I did. Unfortunately I didn't chose the best of times to read it, this was the last book I read before being admitted to the hospital to have the twins so my mind was frequently elsewhere.

Having said that I have to confess that to me reading this book was not the joyous experience I was expecting after reading Marg's review. It might be my mood at the time or just that the writing didn't move me but I felt no empathy for any of the characters and if I am not interested in the characters I always have to struggle to finish it.

What interested me the most was the image of India, How the end of the British rule was fast coming to an end and not all the characters were aware that their lives would forcibly have to change. It's with a fast changing world that the three female characters - Viva, Rose and Tor - are confronted and each reacts in its own way, considering their own situations. Viva is returning to confront her past, Rose to marry a man she saw just a handful of times and Tor is determined to snatch a husband. They'll come out of the experience changed and stronger. Viva, especially, has a particularly dificult situation has she has to deal with a mentally unstable young man that she is also chaperoning on the way to India.

It left me curious about other books set in India and I'll have to go check my TBR pile and see what's there.

Now for a more appreciative review here's what Marg says:

Normally when I see a book mentioned somewhere and it prompts me to add it to my TBR list, I try to write it down on my list, so that I can thank the person who recommended the read. For some reason, when I added this book to my list I didn't do it, and it's a real shame, because I would love to say a hearty THANK YOU to whoever it was.

The book opens with Viva Holloway. She is a young woman with great spirit, great secrets, but unfortunately not great means. She spent many of her formative years in India before she was sent back to school in the UK, and now she longs to return to India - ostensibly to take ownership of a trunk of her dead parents possessions that is being held in trust for her by an old family friend. It does also give her a chance to run away from a disastrous love affair.

The only way she can get to India though is to act as a chaperone to three young people. Rose is on her way to India to get married to a dashing soldier by the name of Jack. She has only met him a few times, but she is excitedly planning a life with him, having no real idea about life in India or about what to expect from marriage, especially as a soldiers wife. Accompanying her is her friend Victoria, known to everyone as Tor, who is going to be her bridesmaid, and hopefully to find herself a husband whilst she is at it. The third person that Viva has to chaperone is a young man of 16 years age called Guy Glover, who has been dismissed from his English school and is returning back to India to be with his parents.

From the start it is clear that there are going to be issues, and so it proves to be. Whilst it is not all plain sailing (sorry, bad pun!), we are also given a glimpse into the life of board for young ladies of the day as they attend parties, make new friends, stop off in Port Said and do a quick trip to Cairo, as the weather warms up and they all sleep on deck - men on one side and women on the other thank you very much.

The journeys that our characters take are very much individual. Along the way we meet up with the rich and bored memsahibs who are only interested in their own lives, the early days of marriage to a stranger for Rose, the search for a husband for the less than confident Tor, and for Viva, a life where she is struggling to make ends meet and therefore has to take up work in a local orphanage and therefore gets to see first hand the poverty, the joy and the conflicts amongst the locals. For those days in India are leading up to the end of British Colonial rule and therefore it is not all swigging G and T's at the club for those people who have chosen to make their lives in a far off land.

There is a great joy in the reading of this book. It's not great literature, but there are times when what you want is an absorbing read that you can get lost in, as opposed to something that you have to think really hard about all the time! There are a few times when the narrative loses a little bit of smoothness, but I was fully invested in the characters, in the setting and in the story and so it didn't really bother me at all.

Reading this book also made me think about my grandmother's life. She made the journey from the UK in the 1930s, not to India, but to Australia. I am pretty sure that she travelled with her family and not as a single woman, but we have talked a bit before about getting off the boat in Egypt. One time when I was at her house, she even got out some things that she had kept from the boat trip over - including a few menus and things. It's fair to say that the food that we eat today has changed a lot from what was served up in those days. If it wasn't for the fact that I live so far away from her, I would have been around to her house to look through all that information again!

This book is apparently one of Richard and Judy's Summer Reads (a big deal in the UK - somewhat similar to getting chosen to be a Oprah book club book) and doesn't seem to have been released in places like the US yet, but I am really glad that my library had it. I have now requested this author's first book, called The Water Horse, and I am very much looking forward to reading it. Another book that I remember reading which featured a similar story about travelling by ship to a different life that I enjoyed was Jojo Moyes' Ship of Brides.

A very interesting read, set in a very interesting location in very interesting times, and a joy to read.

If you are interested in hearing a little more from the author, there is an interview with her posted at The Book Depository. Click here to read it!

The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan

Set in 16th and early 17th century rule of the Mughal Empire in India, Mehrunnisa is born to a Persian courtier to the Mughal emperor, Akbar.  The family came from humble beginnings but Akbar earned his way into the life of courtier.

When Mehrunnisa was 8 years old, she got a glimpse of Salim, the crown prince of the royal family.  It is then that she makes it her life's goal to marry him.  She was devastated when her father told her that  that she was to marry a not so royal man but did as she was bid, as women had no choice back then.  Her marriage was not a happy one.  She had several miscarriages until she finally has a daughter.  Her husband seemed to think she miscarried and didn't give him a son on purpose.

Eventually Mehrunnisa has another chance meeting with Salim, who is just as infatuated with her.  He has many wives but his chief wife, Jagat Gosini is the main contender to stand in the way of Mehrunnisa finally getting her dream.

This is a deeply moving story of love and the history of the Mughal Empire.  I listened to the audio version and the narrator Sneha Mathan brought the characters to life.  I felt like I was living life back in India with Mehrunnisa.  Indu Sundaresan has a way of painting the story with words.   I can hardly wait to read the sequel, The Feast of Roses.

5/5

Olivia & Jai - Rebecca Ryman

In 1848, Olivia, a young American woman, goes to Calcutta to visit relatives. Her aunt tries to break her of her "tomboyish" ways and plans to match her up with a man from high-class society. In the meantime, Olivia is more interested in her uncle's business and she would prefer to return home to America's Wild West where she can be herself. Soon, however, she meets Jai – a half-caste bastard. Olivia's aunt faints upon hearing his name and Olivia is forbidden to see Jai. Of course, Olivia sees him anyway. At times Jai is tender and loving toward Olivia. At other times he is downright offensive. In spite of his often cruel behavior, Olivia falls in love with him. Ignoring all the warnings from friends and relatives, she pursues a most volatile relationship.

Olivia & Jai is one of those books with a slight old fashioned feeling that left a wonderful impression the first time I read it a couple years ago. After writing my Why I Love...Historical Fiction set in India, I wanted to reread it and see if the magic still worked.

We first meet Olivia O’Rourke, a 23 years old American with an unusual education and lots of character, during her stay in India where she spends a year with her maternal aunt, Lady Bridget Templewood, and her family. The young woman is completely in love for this new land and its culture. Every opportunity she gets, to great despair of her snobbish aunt, she’s out exploring Calcutta and doing the best she can to get to meet the locals.

One evening, during a ball, she meets a mysterious man, Jai Raventhorne. They are both curious about each other, but when Olivia mentions his name to her family, they are all shocked and immediately warn her to keep her distances from him. Clearly there’s something going on between Raventhorne and the Templewoods and nobody seems interested to talk about it or explain the reasons of the quarrel to the young American. This situation only provokes Olivia’s curiosity about Jai…

Not long after, Olivia and Jai start to meet in secret, both unable to stop the growing attraction between them. If the young woman accepts her feelings more easily, Jai tries to keep his distances at first and warns her often that despite his love, he cannot give her what she wants. Olivia is in love and she never imagined Jai’s revenge towards her family or the unbearable pain caused by his treason…

Olivia is a charming mix of wisdom and innocence. Raised by her free thinking father in the States, she was always encouraged to give her opinion and be an independent woman. Her English aunt is completely appealed by this upbringing! She is decided to transform the young woman into a lady and find her an English husband.

If I couldn’t sometimes suspend my disbelief when I read about Olivia leaving the house all alone and spend hours in the local markets or riding, I did enjoy her curiosity about the Indian culture and the fact that she tried to break free from the quite strict British society rules and seek for something else.
Her love for Jai might seem sometimes a bit naïve and suddenly excessive, but it’s her first love and she was completely swept away by the dark and mysterious young man. His happiness is her happiness. She gave herself completely to Jai without any constraints.

Jai is Eurasian and his illegitimacy is often the center of all gossip among the local British society. He is arrogant, conceited, obnoxious and sometimes, a real pain. He is also a self made man. Nobody knows who his parents were, but he made his way into the world and built an empire. He does some terrible things, but here remains the talent of Rebecca Ryman, even during the worst moments I could never really hate Jai. He never became an unsympathetic character and I would imagine it was a hard task for the author to keep him going as a real person with its faults and qualities.

There are some small aspects that kept me from giving this book 5 stars. The language was a little too modernized sometimes, but it won’t spoil any enjoyment.

This is a story of love and revenge with some twists and turns but everything works almost perfectly for me. The character development, especially Olivia who changes so much all along the story, is quite remarkable. Also the descriptions of 19th century India are enthralling. I remember especially Olivia’s visit to the market and it was so vivid I could almost taste the pastry she was eating.

Rebecca Ryman is the pen name of an Indian writer, Asha Bhanjdeo, who only wrote three books under this name: Olivia & Jai, The Veil of Illusions (the sequel of Olivia & Jai) and Shalimar. Unfortunately, she died in 2003.

Grade: 4.5/5

East of the Sun by Julia Gregson

Summer 1928. The Kaiser-i-Hind is en route to Bombay. In Cabin D38, Viva Holloway, an inexperienced chaperone, is worried she's made a terrible mistake. Her advert in The Lady has resulted in three unsettling charges to be escorted to India.

Rose, a beautiful, dangerously naive English girl, is about to be married to the cavalry officer she has met only a handful of times. Victoria, her bridesmaid, is determined to lose her virginity on the journey, before finding a husband of her own in India. And overshadowing all three of them, the malevolent presence of Guy Glover, a strange and disturbed schoolboy.

Three potential Memsahibs with a myriad of reasons for leaving England, but the cargo of hopes and secrets they carry has done little to prepare them for what lies ahead.

From the parties of the wealthy Bombay socialites to the poverty of the orphans on Tamarind Street, East of the Sun is everything a historical novel should be: alive with glorious detail, fascinating characters and masterful storytelling.

Normally when I see a book mentioned somewhere and it prompts me to add it to my TBR list, I try to write it down on my list, so that I can thank the person who recommended the read. For some reason, when I added this book to my list I didn't do it, and it's a real shame, because I would love to say a hearty THANK YOU to whoever it was.

The book opens with Viva Holloway. She is a young woman with great spirit, great secrets, but unfortunately not great means. She spent many of her formative years in India before she was sent back to school in the UK, and now she longs to return to India - ostensibly to take ownership of a trunk of her dead parents possessions that is being held in trust for her by an old family friend. It does also give her a chance to run away from a disastrous love affair.

The only way she can get to India though is to act as a chaperone to three young people. Rose is on her way to India to get married to a dashing soldier by the name of Jack. She has only met him a few times, but she is excitedly planning a life with him, having no real idea about life in India or about what to expect from marriage, especially as a soldiers wife. Accompanying her is her friend Victoria, known to everyone as Tor, who is going to be her bridesmaid, and hopefully to find herself a husband whilst she is at it. The third person that Viva has to chaperone is a young man of 16 years age called Guy Glover, who has been dismissed from his English school and is returning back to India to be with his parents.

From the start it is clear that there are going to be issues, and so it proves to be. Whilst it is not all plain sailing (sorry, bad pun!), we are also given a glimpse into the life of board for young ladies of the day as they attend parties, make new friends, stop off in Port Said and do a quick trip to Cairo, as the weather warms up and they all sleep on deck - men on one side and women on the other thank you very much.

The journeys that our characters take are very much individual. Along the way we meet up with the rich and bored memsahibs who are only interested in their own lives, the early days of marriage to a stranger for Rose, the search for a husband for the less than confident Tor, and for Viva, a life where she is struggling to make ends meet and therefore has to take up work in a local orphanage and therefore gets to see first hand the poverty, the joy and the conflicts amongst the locals. For those days in India are leading up to the end of British Colonial rule and therefore it is not all swigging G and T's at the club for those people who have chosen to make their lives in a far off land.

There is a great joy in the reading of this book. It's not great literature, but there are times when what you want is an absorbing read that you can get lost in, as opposed to something that you have to think really hard about all the time! There are a few times when the narrative loses a little bit of smoothness, but I was fully invested in the characters, in the setting and in the story and so it didn't really bother me at all.

Reading this book also made me think about my grandmother's life. She made the journey from the UK in the 1930s, not to India, but to Australia. I am pretty sure that she travelled with her family and not as a single woman, but we have talked a bit before about getting off the boat in Egypt. One time when I was at her house, she even got out some things that she had kept from the boat trip over - including a few menus and things. It's fair to say that the food that we eat today has changed a lot from what was served up in those days. If it wasn't for the fact that I live so far away from her, I would have been around to her house to look through all that information again!

This book is apparently one of Richard and Judy's Summer Reads (a big deal in the UK - somewhat similar to getting chosen to be a Oprah book club book) and doesn't seem to have been released in places like the US yet, but I am really glad that my library had it. I have now requested this author's first book, called The Water Horse, and I am very much looking forward to reading it. Another book that I remember reading which featured a similar story about travelling by ship to a different life that I enjoyed was Jojo Moyes' Ship of Brides.

A very interesting read, set in a very interesting location in very interesting times, and a joy to read.


If you are interested in hearing a little more from the author, there is an interview with her posted at The Book Depository. Click here to read it!

Taj: The Woman and the Wonder by Sandra Wilson

Taj brings to life the fantastic story of the Taj Mahal and the wealthy Mughal Empire. Wilson skilfully weaves together a dazzling story of the royal courts and harems of 15th century India.

Shah Jahan, heir to the throne, is betrayed by his ruthless stepmother. The loss of his father's adoration, rebellion, battles, and banishment that follow are bearable only because of the staunch support of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal, built for her, is both a remarkable example of Shah Jahan's architectural legacy and a physical symbol of the intense love he shared with his wife.

Given the number of historical fiction books that are out about the same characters over and over again, one would think that there must be no unknown stories out there to be discovered and written. When I think about it though, it surprises me that there aren't more books around about the love story that inspired the creation of one of the most well known monuments to love on Earth - the Taj Mahal. When I was offered this book to review, I jumped at the opportunity to read some historical fiction with a different setting. Then I read The Temple Dancer, so instead of it being a place that I had never read about before, it turns out that I read two books set in India within a couple of months. Luckily, the two stories are very distinct and both enjoyable.

The book opens with Shah Jahan (who before coming to the throne was known as Prince Khurram) on his deathbed, looking out towards the Taj Mahal. Jahan has been under house arrest for several years, held captive in a gilded palace by his son who usurped the throne. As he gazes at the monument that he built to his wife, we are taken on the journey back through his life, back to the time he first met his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, on their wedding day. We share their lives as they love and support each other through the triumphs and the trials of being a member of the ruling family.

Khurram has long been the favoured son of his father Jahangir, the son who has been groomed from very early in his childhood to be the next emperor. Not only is he suave and handsome, but he is a gifted military leader, earning the blessings of his father as he goes to war, and as he returns from war showering his father with gifts and glory. No matter where he goes, Khurram is always accompanied by his wife, Mumtaz, and they are devoted to each other.

As in every Royal court though, there is always scheming and plotting afoot, and this time it comes from close to the Royal throne. Jahangir's wife, Nur Jahan, has long been the hidden power behind the throne, and she is ambitious for more power. As Khurram's triumphs increase, it becomes clear to Nur Jahan that she is not going to be able to manipulate Khurram as easily as she has been able to manipulate his father and so she decides that steps need to be taken to ensure that another becomes the emperor's heir. And so begins a series of betrayals and manipulations designed to drive a wedge between son and father, niece and aunt, friend and foe.

This book rather neatly divides itself into two parts - the first is about Khurram and the struggles that he has to claim his destiny, and the second part focuses on his grief after Mumtaz dies in childbirth, and his decision build the Taj Mahal, a beautiful monument to his love for his wife. In the second part of the novel, there is a lot of detail about the design and about the care that was taken not only in building but also in the painstaking processes used to decorate the building. The author manages to convey all this information without losing too much of the pacing and flow of the earlier parts of the novel. While the two parts are quite distinct they are very cohesive, and together, form a really story.

I have never really been all that interested in India, but after reading two books about India recently, I am thinking that I might be going out of my way to try and find more fiction set there in the future.

You can find out more information about this book at the author's website, and the book can be purchased from Amazon.

The Temple Dancer by John Speed

India, 1657.

When Maya, a graceful, young temple dancer with a mysterious past, is sold into slavery, she enters a world of intrigue, violence, and forbidden love. Bought by a Portuguese trader and sold as a concubine to the dissolute vizier of Bijapur, she embarks on a treacherous journey.

In a caravan led by the dangerous settlement man Da Gama, she travels by elephant on the hostile road to Bijapur, joined by Geraldo, a Portuguese adventurer, and Pathan, a handsome prince who carries a dark secret. Together with Lucinda, a beautiful, spoiled young Goan heiress, and the manipulative eunuch Slipper, they climb the windswept mountain road through the Western Ghats.

When their caravan is attacked by bandits, the travelers' lives are turned upside down. In the aftermath, Maya and Lucinda suddenly find themselves stranded in a strange, exotic world, a world filled with passion, romance, and deception, pure love and lurking evil, where nothing is as it seems and the two women are faced with great temptation as well as heart-wrenching decisions that will affect the rest of their lives.

Greed, politics, commitment, courage, love, and intolerance mesh to form a vibrant Indian tapestry. With spectacular settings, unforgettable characters, fierce sensuality, and intense scholarship, this adventure-packed novel marks the debut of an exciting new storyteller.

The Temple Dancer is the first volume of John Speed's Indian trilogy, a three-book journey that will cover the final years of the Mogul Empire and the rise of the Marathis under the highwayman Shivaji. It will leave you breathlessly awaiting his next novel.

I am not really sure why, but I have never really been all that interested in India, and I haven't read a lot about it either. From what I can recall, years ago I read A Passage to India, or The Far Pavilions - I can see the cover in my mind, but can't remember exactly which book it was. Having said that, it seems as though this is changing as this was the first of two books that I have read that are set in India in the last couple of months.

First off, for a debut author, John Speed had the cover god's smiling on him, because the cover of this book is gorgeous, and certainly did a good job of representing the book to me! There is an intriguing mixture of characters and location. Amongst the characters we have Muslims, Hindus and Portuguese, men, women and the court eunuchs who give much of the humour but also much of the backstabbing and double crossing in the book.

The two central characters are Maya and Lucinda who are two women from two very different backgrounds. Maya is basically a slave, albeit a very expensive one, to be bought and sold by the highest bidder, at their convenience. She was a temple dancer and prostitute, and now she must be accompanied on her journey from Goa to Bajipur, where her new owner now resides. Also travelling on the journey is Lucinda who is a young Portuguese heiress whose family has temporarily fallen on hard times, and who is therefore being sent to Bajipur with a view to an advantageous marriage. After a terrible ambush, Maya and Lucinda start to trust each other, and become friends. All through the novel, the author carefully shows the differences between the two women, but also the similarities - for example the fact that both of the women are being "sold off".

Also accompanying the ladies are Slipper the eunuch who at first appears to be Maya's servant, but turns out to be something far more capricious, Lucinda's trouble making cousin Geraldo, and the two fix it men, Da Gama and Pathan who are entrusted with delivering the precious cargo to their new owners in tact.

As disaster strikes the caravan, relationships begin to form and bonds to strengthen, some that will become more solid than others, despite the religious and cultural differences between the characters. The symbolism is sometimes more subtle than others - for example, in the ambush Lucinda's clothing is lost. Gradually as Lucinda comes to feel more relaxed she begins to feel more confident in the more liberating saris, whilst also divesting herself of some of the more restrictive emotions and beliefs of Europeans as well.

This novel really did have it all - adventure, danger, political maneuverings, romance and the ending was different to what I was expecting it to be, whilst remaining true to the spirit of the book and was a satisfactory ending to the story and for the characters. This is the first book of a trilogy, and the second book, Tiger Claws, comes out in September. I hope that my library gets the second and third books as I have very much enjoyed my journey through mid 1600's India.

There were times when the episodes of violence and intrigue felt a bit contrived, but certainly for the most part, John Speed is obviously very knowledgeable about India and has written an entertaining book about a time and place full of mystique, glamour and intrigue.

I was interested to see a news article a couple of weeks after I read this book that talked about the temple prostitutes, and the fate that awaits them in modern India. Whilst as I understand it, it is illegal, but still happens particularly in the remoter parts of the country, and the women are left to fend for themselves in whatever way they can, often living in complete poverty towards the end of their days.

Rating 4/5