(Note: This is not a recent title. The book was first published in 2013.)

I am often drawn to stories that would have been contemporary with my own childhood in a far-flung part of the fading British Empire as I have an appreciation of what those societies were like. This novel about India has two narratives, one at the time of partition in the late 1940s and the second ten years later in 1957.

In 1947, Sophie is the only daughter of Dr George Schofield and his wife, Veronica. Aged just seventeen she finds herself largely left to her own devices in the palace of a Maharajah where her father is one of the medical officers. Her mother is a bitter and twisted woman who often makes Sophie’s life hell, whereas her father is a gentle, kind man and is Sophie’s rock. By chance, while wandering the marble halls she meets Jag, the son of one of the palace servants and a friendship ensues, eventually turning into a love affair. There are the inevitable results when the scandalous cross-racial romance is discovered and Sophie must pay a high price for her actions.

By 1957, Sophie is married to Lucien Grainger whom she met while working in the Foreign Office in London. With much trepidation on Sophie’s part, he is posted to Delhi. The marriage is unhappy but Sophie has a position to uphold and she is forced into the supporting role of a “diplomatic wife” with all the superficiality, gossip and mind-numbing entertaining that entails. Unbeknownst to her, Jag has discovered her whereabouts.

The first two-thirds of this novel are excellent, certainly as regards the smooth flow of narrative and the accurate capturing of historical events and social mores of the 1940s/50s. But towards the conclusion, some editorial chaos creeps in with flashbacks that should have been part of the earlier narrative. The shocking, pivotal climax is written in such an abrupt manner that I had to read it twice to grasp what had occurred.

Although it is easy to be irritated by her naivety, one must also have sympathy for Sophie. Her father George has positive qualities but knowing what his wife was like and how she treated their daughter makes you wonder why he didn’t have the courage to kick her out years before. Jag’s character is likeable but remains shadowy in many ways. Lucien has no redeeming features.

Otherwise, the lush descriptions of landscape, the perceptive observations of pre- and post-independent India and life among the British ex-pat society still make this worth reading.


Three stars

PS   The sharp-eyed reader with knowledge of India during this era may well pick up on anachronisms but, if there are any, they are beyond my scope of knowledge. However, I did note the erroneous use of “British Embassy” instead of “High Commission”. All Commonwealth of Nations countries represent one another via High Commissions, not Embassies. To be pedantic and/or technical, Lucien most likely would have been seconded from the 1950s successor to the India Office, the Commonwealth Relations Office. The Foreign Office deals with all non-Commonwealth countries.

 
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The 17th Century hasn’t been fashionable in historical fiction for some time, so the synopsis of this novel drew me in: a hunt for the regicides who executed King Charles I. After the death of Oliver Cromwell and when King Charles II was restored to the crown, there was a campaign to find all the men who had signed the order of execution and to make them pay.

Although there may have been some suggestion of clemency if they truly repented, the fact was many of them were executed in the most gruesome way by being hung, drawn and quartered with their heads placed on spikes.

Two of the regicides managed to escape to the American colonies, being Colonels Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, William Goffe. But hot on their heels is Privy Council clerk Richard Nayler, who is not only committed to tracking down all the regicides in an official capacity but also has personal reasons to find these two men in particular. Part of the novel involves a journal that Edward (Ned) writes about his connections to Cromwell.

In the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut the two men are semi-protected by Puritan friends but the pressures brought to bear from England prejudice any hope of them being able to escape justice.

Much of the story involves running from one safe house, or barn, or cellar, or cave, to the next, often just a few steps ahead of Nayler and/or his mercenaries. Any initial tension or excitement is soon lost and, frankly, the narrative slows so much it is like wading through the heavy snows of New England.

Also, it is impossible to write about the Cromwellian/Restoration period without including the question of religion. While the author does tackle this head-on it is often difficult for the contemporary or secular mind to appreciate the complexities and beliefs of the era. The rules of behaviour in Puritan Cromwellian England would have made it a restrictive, dreary place and it is perfectly understandable when most of the population welcomed a return to a more joyful existence. As a result, it is hard to get a handle on the two Colonels. Edward has less faith than his son-in-law, but even so, they are dull characters. Depending on one’s point of view, Nayler isn’t such a bad guy, searching for men he considers to be murderers, yet he also remains elusive. In a lesser role, is Frances, the wife of Goffe who was left behind in England and she only comes into her own too late in the book.

I have enjoyed several of Robert Harris’ other novels, especially An Officer and a Spy about the infamous Dreyfus Affair which delves deeply into moral questions yet this one didn’t manage to have the same impact.

(With thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC.)
 
Three stars
 
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