Three young English girls join the fishing fleet and come to India in search of husbands. One is the right material for becoming a memsahib; another is afraid of having to 'return empty' because she is fat and a straight talker and the last one is a penniless orphan in search of adventure. All three fulfill their desires but with lots of upheaval in their life.
A strange book: a modern, pet plot has been grafted on some research on colonial India. A far cry from Flora Annie Steel or Maud Diver. I will go so far as to call it an attempt to deconstruct the colonial experience.
Julia Gregson worked as a model, journalist and foreign correspondent before turning to writing fiction. She is a romantic who has worked hard to introduce realism and a lot of period (1928-30) detail in this book. Many details are wrong - particularly the names of Indians, their customs and idiom. Some other characters are strange. The writing is tedious in many a place. Tighter editing was required.
Still the book works. So many new novelists are working and fishing for ideas. A lot is always happening in English literature.
A strange book: a modern, pet plot has been grafted on some research on colonial India. A far cry from Flora Annie Steel or Maud Diver. I will go so far as to call it an attempt to deconstruct the colonial experience.
Julia Gregson worked as a model, journalist and foreign correspondent before turning to writing fiction. She is a romantic who has worked hard to introduce realism and a lot of period (1928-30) detail in this book. Many details are wrong - particularly the names of Indians, their customs and idiom. Some other characters are strange. The writing is tedious in many a place. Tighter editing was required.
Still the book works. So many new novelists are working and fishing for ideas. A lot is always happening in English literature.
