- Paperback: 799 pages
- Publisher: Corgi (1 Sep 1982)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0552990191
- ISBN-13: 978-0552990196
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 5.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 202,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I first read this book about fifteen years ago and then lent it to someone - never to be seen again. Of course I had to buy it again, second hand hardback this time, and I was so delighted when it dropped through my letterbox a few weeks back. I've read it twice since then.
This book is magnificent, sweeping, detailed, and it's one of those books where you find yourself completely lost in the events. It follows the journey of a young English lady, Laura Hewitt, whose cousin Emily has married the man that Laura loves. Laura finds herself accompanying them on their honeymoon trip to India. Part of the reason for the journey to India is for Charles to meet his half-brother Oliver Erskine who is a Zemindar (a landowner of significant territory) and, as his mother hopes, to become Erskine's heir.
Through this book we travel with Laura, Emily and Charles during their sea voyage to India, as they adjust to Indian life staying with various relatives as they work their way into India and then, as they meet Oliver Erskine and then stay with him in his estate, we watch the flowering romance between Mr Erskine and Laura. This is described beautifully and the failings of the two main characters, as well as their good points, are shown to us. As India descends into turmoil we travel with the small group of people to Lucknow where they are beseiged, fight, suffer deprivations and illness, bereavement, all portrayed brilliantly.
The strength of this book is the detail of the life of India in the 1830s, the interaction between the two very strong main characters and their slowly building romance, the portrayal of people and their weaknesses and strengths in times of war, and the evident love of India that the author shows. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!
This book is magnificent, sweeping, detailed, and it's one of those books where you find yourself completely lost in the events. It follows the journey of a young English lady, Laura Hewitt, whose cousin Emily has married the man that Laura loves. Laura finds herself accompanying them on their honeymoon trip to India. Part of the reason for the journey to India is for Charles to meet his half-brother Oliver Erskine who is a Zemindar (a landowner of significant territory) and, as his mother hopes, to become Erskine's heir.
Through this book we travel with Laura, Emily and Charles during their sea voyage to India, as they adjust to Indian life staying with various relatives as they work their way into India and then, as they meet Oliver Erskine and then stay with him in his estate, we watch the flowering romance between Mr Erskine and Laura. This is described beautifully and the failings of the two main characters, as well as their good points, are shown to us. As India descends into turmoil we travel with the small group of people to Lucknow where they are beseiged, fight, suffer deprivations and illness, bereavement, all portrayed brilliantly.
The strength of this book is the detail of the life of India in the 1830s, the interaction between the two very strong main characters and their slowly building romance, the portrayal of people and their weaknesses and strengths in times of war, and the evident love of India that the author shows. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was just outstanding,and I am sorry there was never a sequel and very sorry this author never wrote again. An incredible tale of Laura the poor relation on a journey to India with her newly married cousin Emily and her husband Charles (who Laura thought herself in love with). The book really has a Jane Eyre feel to it, neither the heroine or hero are out and out drop dead good looking, just strong, honorable people we come to care about.
As they travel through India on the way to Lucknow in northern India we meet many characters as the author sets up her stage to the Sepoy rebellion and the seige of Lucknow. Also introduced is Charles' half brother Oliver Erskine, a Zemindar, or large land holder. Eventually Oliver and Laura fall in love, and are separated at Lucknow (after a harrowing escape from Oliver's estate after the rebellion). Oh, when Oliver said to Laura, "I will come back to you, for you".
The rest of the book follows the harrowing conditions at the residency at Lucknow during the seige, the battles, deaths and brutal conditions suffered by the British. Be warned that this was a very brutal rebellion and some of the scenes described, although accurate, can be a bit gory, but important history to be reminded of and the mistakes that were made by ignorant pompous officials and the brutalities committed on both sides due to hate, ignorance and prejudice. It's unfortunate that we do not learn well from history and things are still so much the same in the Middle East in our present time.
The thing I liked most about this book was the author's lovely prose and characters. I felt like I was reading Jane Eyre or Villette, she reminded me so much of Charlotte Bronte, particularly at the end with the letters Oliver and Laura exchanged and when they were finally reunited. You definitely want to set aside quiet time(no kids, dogs or phone) for the last 50 or so pages so that you can savor every lovely word and emotion.
Highly highly recommended for any lover of historical fiction, and would suit well to a younger reader as the love scenes are extremely chaste. I would also recommend MM Kaye's Shadow of the Moon. The same setting, but her characters experienced the rebellion outside of the Residency, so you see a different side of the tale. Both are out of print, but readily available used.
As they travel through India on the way to Lucknow in northern India we meet many characters as the author sets up her stage to the Sepoy rebellion and the seige of Lucknow. Also introduced is Charles' half brother Oliver Erskine, a Zemindar, or large land holder. Eventually Oliver and Laura fall in love, and are separated at Lucknow (after a harrowing escape from Oliver's estate after the rebellion). Oh, when Oliver said to Laura, "I will come back to you, for you".
The rest of the book follows the harrowing conditions at the residency at Lucknow during the seige, the battles, deaths and brutal conditions suffered by the British. Be warned that this was a very brutal rebellion and some of the scenes described, although accurate, can be a bit gory, but important history to be reminded of and the mistakes that were made by ignorant pompous officials and the brutalities committed on both sides due to hate, ignorance and prejudice. It's unfortunate that we do not learn well from history and things are still so much the same in the Middle East in our present time.
The thing I liked most about this book was the author's lovely prose and characters. I felt like I was reading Jane Eyre or Villette, she reminded me so much of Charlotte Bronte, particularly at the end with the letters Oliver and Laura exchanged and when they were finally reunited. You definitely want to set aside quiet time(no kids, dogs or phone) for the last 50 or so pages so that you can savor every lovely word and emotion.
Highly highly recommended for any lover of historical fiction, and would suit well to a younger reader as the love scenes are extremely chaste. I would also recommend MM Kaye's Shadow of the Moon. The same setting, but her characters experienced the rebellion outside of the Residency, so you see a different side of the tale. Both are out of print, but readily available used.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book at least twice when I was a teenager after finding it in the local library and it really stood out among the other "fluff" I was likely to have been reading at the time. I mean how many books have you read from which scenes still pass through your mind fifteen years later, as clear as if you read the lines yesterday? The heat of India, so hot that the sweat that drips from your hands makes it hard to write, the smell of rotting corpses after a massacre, Laura's frustration at being so near to the man she loves but unable to ever have him...
I haven't read the book since and actually thought it had disappeared entirely as I have never come across it again, so I was pleased to discover it here. It is the best novel I have ever read belonging to the "historical romance" genre. It's a long book but I devoured it and when I'd finished wanted to go back and read it all over again. I was in turns intrigued, repulsed, and enchanted by this romance set against the backdrop of the Indian Mutiny, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical romances.
I haven't read the book since and actually thought it had disappeared entirely as I have never come across it again, so I was pleased to discover it here. It is the best novel I have ever read belonging to the "historical romance" genre. It's a long book but I devoured it and when I'd finished wanted to go back and read it all over again. I was in turns intrigued, repulsed, and enchanted by this romance set against the backdrop of the Indian Mutiny, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical romances.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
great book
I had a copy of this book years ago I have read it so many times it was falling apart, so I was delighted to be able to get a copy so I can read it again and probaly aqain. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Kal
A visit to an old favourite
I first read Zemindar many years ago, and not only did I enjoy it, but it ignited a love for Indian history. Read more
Published 15 months ago by P. G. Russell
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