Novels Set in India
Only six days left until The Betrayal of the Blood Lily! As you probably already know, if you’re reading this, The Betrayal of the Blood Lily takes place in India in 1804, a world away from the ratafia and rout cakes of Almack’s.
Over the past few days, some people have asked me for recommendations for other India-set books. Here’s what I’ve come up with (arranged chronologically):
— Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe’s Triumph (1803)
— Thalassa Ali, A Singular Hostage (1838)
— George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman (1839)
— George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman in the Great Game (1857)
— M.M. Kaye, Shadow of the Moon (1857)
— Valerie Fitzgerald, Zemindar (1857)
— Meredith Duran, Duke of Shadows (1857)
— Katherine Gordon, The Peacock Quartet (1857)
— M.M. Kaye, The Far Pavilions (late 19th C)
— E.M. Forster, A Passage to India (1920’s)
— Barbara Cleverly, The Last Kashmiri Rose, et al (mystery, 1920’s)
— M.M. Kaye, Death in Kashmir (mystery, 1940’s)
— Paul Scott, The Jewel in the Crown (1940’s)
Do you have any recommendations to add to the list?
“The Twentieth Wife” and “The Feast of Roses,” by Indu Sundaresan. They’re set in the seventeenth century, and tell the story of Mughal emperor Jahangir, and Mehrunissa, the most beloved of his wives–and eventually, the most powerful of Mughal empresses. I don’t know how accurate the details of people and events are, but the details of time, place, and atmosphere make these incredibly absorbing reads.
Margaret McMillan’s
Women of the Raj: The Mothers, Wives, and Daughters of the British Empire in India is very interesting, although it is not a novel.
Kipling’s “Kim”.
In the “not a novel” category, M. M. Kaye’s autobiography.
Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors
Temple Dancer and its sequel Tiger Claws by John Speed. Great books!