Books about India

[WinWinnieTheWay]

I love reading about colonial life in India, but I want a female perspective. Any recommendations?

A Suitable Boy is a great read, also the four volumes of The Jewel in the Crown, though from a British perspective.

Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jabhvala. A woman goes to India in the 1970s to find out more about a family scandal, her Raj step-grandmother Olivia who had a child by the local Indian ruler. The Merchant Ivory film adaptation is also worth a look.

And not from a woman's POV, but female-authored, brilliant and plotty and evocative -- The Far Pavilions by MM Kaye. Orphaned English child grows up passing for Indian in the mid 19thc, is eventually sent back to England to have a gentleman's education and then returns to India as an army officer, torn between his cultures, and ends up in a tricky situation with two maharanis and suttee. After that, it gets very dull, but it's worth it for the first half/two-thirds.

Oh, and Rumer Godden's Black Narcissus -- a convent of English nuns arrive to found a convent in the mountains north of Darjeeling. You might know the Powell and Pressberger film version.

Were two threads really necessary?

@GoshHashana

I think yes, actually. Thank you for asking.

In hindsight I thought that my first title might be off putting.

Do you have a recommendation for me?

Kashmir Shawl by Tosie Thomas.
Baumgartner's Bombay is not set in Colonial Times but describes Mumbai from the 40's on.All of Anita Desai's books are well worth a read.

The Raj Quartet definitely- has 2 female central figures and they’re excellent books. A Passage to India is very good too (again, not from a sole female perspective but..)

Ok, so you are specifically looking for books from a woman's perspective.

Here are some suggestions:

A House Called Askival by Merryn Glover www.tripfiction.com/books/house-called-askival/
An Unrestored Woman by Shobha Rao
www.tripfiction.com/books/an-unrestored-woman/
Before the Rains by Dinah Jefferies
www.tripfiction.com/books/before-the-rains/
Eden Gardens by Louise Brown
www.tripfiction.com/books/eden-gardens/

Anyway, there are some titles to start with. Enjoy your reading!

Women of the Raj: The Mothers, Wives, And Daughters of the British Empire in India - MacMillan (non-fiction)

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure - MacDonald (non-fiction, 2004)

Dark Road to Darjeeling - Raybourn (fiction, #4 Lady Julia Grey Mysteries)

This old thread might give a few more ideas.

The Fishing Fleet by Anne de Courcy