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Average Customer Rating:

A gripping read

Customer Rating:

I thought that this book was a gripping read and difficult to put down, even my husband enjoyed it and he does not normally read the same books as I do. It evoked the between-the-wars era when it was considered normal for expats to spend years away from home and family in the colonies, rarely going home because of the slow methods of transportation, and cutting themselves off from friends and family and all that was familiar. The thought of sending an 18-year old daughter across the world alone to marry a man she hardly knew would be unheard of now! The only weak links were the characterisation of Jack (why on earth did he become hastily engaged to a girl he hardly knew while home on leave when he was still fairly young and had a sumptuous Indian mistress who he adored?) I found him was a rather unpleasant and confused character with whom it was hard to empathise. The storyline about Guy Glover could well have been dropped when they landed in Bombay, or even omitted totally. It added nothing to the story and one longed to be rid of his irritating appearances in an otherwise charming book.

Awful! Don't bother!	Customer Rating:
This was a novel that I so wanted to give a chance. Sadly, it was long winded and boring. The characters get irritating and after a while I actually stopped caring about them. The history is compelling and the descriptions are satisfactory. I actually stopped reading this novel 3/4 of the way through.

A wonderful Read	Customer Rating:
I loved this book. The sort of book that makes you smile, evoking time, place and character with deceptive ease. While never being preachy, and always being first and foremost an enjoyable story, the book has a serious underlying theme: the fragile status of single women at that time, resonating in the larger fragility of an India about to free itself of colonialism. Lovely.

Wonderfully enjoyable read

Customer Rating:

Set in a wonderfully well imagined 1920s, this is the story of three young women who travel (first class, by sea) to India. Eighteen-year-old Rose is going to be married, to a young man she hardly knows. Her friend, bubbly, insecure Victoria (Tor) is to be her bridesmaid -- delighted to escape from her domineering, critical mother, she also hopes to find herself a husband. The third, Viva, is a few years older but has managed to get her fare paid by the girls' mothers in return for acting as their chaperone. Brought up in India until the age of eight, Viva has lived in England ever since and has mixed feelings about returning to the country where both her parents and her older sister died. Also in Viva's care on the ship is Guy Glover, an unstable sixteen-year-old, whose peculiar attachment to Viva will be the cause of some very dangerous and frightening events later on. I really liked the way the narrative moved between the three girls' stories, and this technique made the novel even more tantalisingly readable, as when one girl's chapter ends -- often with a bit of a cliff-hanger -- you have to wait for two more chapters to pass until you find out the outcome of whatever situation each has got themselves into (if that makes sense). Being already a lover of India and knowing Bombay a little bit, I found the descriptions of life there all those years ago absolutely fascinating. The choice of historical period was an interesting one -- although it would be another twenty years before India achieved independence, the rumblings are already making themselves felt, Gandhi is already on the scene, and the British are feeling increasingly insecure. Nevertheless, life for these privileged young people is pretty easy and luxurious, though Viva, somewhat impoverished and needing to support herself, comes into contact with a rather different side of Bombay life when she gets a job in an orphanage. Of course there are love stories, some with happy endings and others less so. All in all this is the most marvellously attractive book. Comfort reading, in a sense, but high quality comfort reading. I look forward very much to Julia Gregson's forthcoming Jasmine Nights, and must try to get hold of her earlier novel The Water Horse. An author to watch.

Extremely disappointing	Customer Rating:
As this was a Richard and Judy recommended read, I thought this would be a cracking read. How wrong I was! Very slow; boring two dimensional characters, Im afraid it went to the charity shop before I reached the end. I read two-thirds of it, by which time I was ready to scream with annoyance!