Sorry about the long silence! I've been away for over a week and have only managed to read one book in that time -- but my goodness I did enjoy it. 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.
