The Kashmir Shawl [Paperback]

Acclaim for The Kashmir Shawl:

‘A superbly researched and vivid evocation of wartime Kashmir and Ladakh’ Daily Mail

‘A spellbinding tale. Beautifully written, honest and compassionate…a delight from start to finish’
Daily Express

‘Dramatic, epic storytelling’
Woman & Home

‘Warm and fascinating’
Saga Magazine

‘An epic tale…A complicated entanglement of family secrets, love during wartime and dangerous liaisons. For fans of Maggie O’Farrell’
Red

‘A superbly written novel, marvellously descriptive and especially evocative of the war years . . . a gorgeous treat’ Choice

‘Epic’
Bella

‘The story unravels bewitchingly . . . A charmingly written book. Thomas’s observations of the complexities of relationships, time and experience are presented with warmth and clarity.’
Herald Sun

Acclaim for Rosie Thomas:

'Novelist Rosie Thomas is one of the best storytellers around' Express

‘Rosie Thomas writes with beautiful, effortless prose, and shows a rare compassion and a real understanding of the nature of love.’ The Times

‘A master storyteller.’ Cosmopolitan

‘Thomas’s novels are beautifully written. This one is a treat.’ Marie Claire

‘Honest and absorbing, Rosie Thomas mixes the bitter and the hopeful with the knowledge that the human heart is far more complicated than any rule suggests.’ Mail on Sunday

Acclaim for The Kashmir Shawl:

‘A superbly researched and vivid evocation of wartime Kashmir and Ladakh’ Daily Mail

‘A spellbinding tale. Beautifully written, honest and compassionate…a delight from start to finish’
Daily Express

‘Dramatic, epic storytelling’
Woman & Home

‘Warm and fascinating’
Saga Magazine

‘An epic tale…A complicated entanglement of family secrets, love during wartime and dangerous liaisons. For fans of Maggie O’Farrell’
Red

‘A superbly written novel, marvellously descriptive and especially evocative of the war years . . . a gorgeous treat’ Choice

‘Epic’
Bella

‘The story unravels bewitchingly . . . A charmingly written book. Thomas’s observations of the complexities of relationships, time and experience are presented with warmth and clarity.’
Herald Sun

‘Thomas’ portrayal of a young wife struggling to cope with life in wartime Kashmir, her husband’s indifference to her and her attraction to a charismatic mountaineer is beautifully written, touching and believable’ The Daily Express

Spanning decades and moving from the stark beauty of the Welsh landscape to the Himalayas and Kashmir, this is a story of bravery, courage and love.

Within one exotic land lie the secrets of a lifetime…

Newlywed Nerys Watkins leaves rural Wales for the first time in her life, to accompany her husband on a missionary posting to India. Travelling from lonely Ladakh, high up in the Himalayas, Nerys discovers a new world in the lakeside city of Srinagar. Here, in the exquisite heart of Kashmir, the British live on carved wooden houseboats and dance, flirt and gossip as if there is no war.

But the battles draw ever closer, and life in Srinagar becomes less frivolous when the men are sent away to fight. Nerys is caught up in a dangerous friendship, and by the time she is reunited with her husband, the innocent Welsh bride has become a different woman.

Years later, when Mair Ellis clears out her father’s house, she finds an exquisite antique shawl, woven from the finest yarns and embroidered in the shades of lake water and mountain skies. Wrapped within its folds is a lock of child’s hair. Tracing her grandparents’ roots back to Kashmir, Mair embarks on a quest that will change her life forever.

Rosie Thomas is the author of a number of celebrated novels, including the bestsellers Iris and Ruby, Constance and Lovers and Newcomers. A keen traveller, she has climbed in the Alps and the Himalayas, competed in the Peking to Paris car rally and travelled the Silk Road through Asia. More recently, she has spent time in Kashmir and Ladakh, researching this novel. She lives in London.