Review: Shadowed in Silk

After the Great War, Abby Fraser returns to India with her small son, where her husband is stationed with the British army. She has longed to go home to the land of glittering palaces and veiled women . . . but Nick has become a cruel stranger. It will take more than her American pluck to survive.

Major Geoff Richards, broken over the loss of so many of his men in the trenches of France, returns to his cavalry post in Amritsar. But his faith does little to help him understand the ruthlessness of his British peers toward the India people he loves. Nor does it explain how he is to protect Abby Fraser and her child from the husband who mistreats them.

Amid political unrest, inhospitable deserts, and Russian spies, tensions rise in India as the people cry for the freedom espoused by Gandhi. Caught between their own ideals and duty, Geoff and Abby stumble into sinister secrets . . . secrets that will thrust them out of the shadows and straight into the fire of revolution.

Christine Lindsay visited this blog on a Tuesday and Friday in May to talk about her new novel, Shadowed in Silk, and the research it required. At the time, I hadn’t had the opportunity to read the book, but I have now. It didn’t disappoint.

Christine and I discovered that we’ve both read and enjoyed M.M. Kaye’s books set in India—The Far Pavillions and Shadow of the Moon. Though it’s been years ago for me, reading Christine’s new novel is like visiting that Far East country again. The setting description is reminiscent of the previous books and carries the reader back to the days following the close of World War I and Great Britain’s tentative hold on the Indian people.

She also created well-rounded characters caught up in a turbulent time of change—the time of Ghandi and India’s fight for independence. One feels Abby’s fear for her son and Geoff’s divided sentiments between the British military and the Indian people he loves.

I must admit that, for me, the first nearly forty pages read a bit slow as Christine introduced the setting and characters. But soon thereafter, I found myself immersed in the story—the intrigue and romance. From there, it charged ahead to a satisfying ending. In particular, there was something about the first scene in the last chapter that really captured me. I liked the way she interwove Geoff’s inner thoughts with his outward actions.

If you enjoy a novel with a lot of historical and exotic flavor, you will definitely want to wrap yourself in the pleasure of Shadowed in Silk!

Disclosure of Material Connection: This book came to me free from the publisher with the hope that I would mention it on this blog. There was no requirement for me to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed above are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.