Shadow of the Moon: Amazon.ca: Rh Value Publishing: Books

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A closely interwoven story of love and war whose descriptive prose is so evocative that you can actually see and - much more - smell India as the country assaults you from the page Sunday Telegraph Another splendid tale of India Wall Street Journal --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Book Description

M.M. Kaye, author of "The Far Pavilions", sweeps her readers back to the vast, glittering, sunbaked continent of India. "Shadow of the Moon" is the story of Winter de Ballesteros, a beautiful English heiress who has come to India to be married. It is also the tale of Captain Alex Randall, her escort and protector, who knows that Winter's husband to be has become a debauched wreck of a man. When India bursts into flaming hatreds and bitter bloodshed during the dark days of the Mutiny, Alex and Winter are thrown unwillingly together in the brutal and urgent struggle for survival. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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5.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Historical Romance Set Against The British Raj, Mar 23 2004

By

Jana L. Perskie "ceruleana" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Shadow Of The Moon (Paperback)

M. M. Kaye's extraordinary novel "Shadow of the Moon" combines historical fact with a wonderful love story set against the beauty and complexity of India during the British Raj. One of Ms. Kaye's gifts as a writer is her ability to create three-dimensional characters and plausibly insert them into historic events. Here she intertwines her cast of characters with history and through the microcosm of their lives we view the dramatic events of the past.

The action in M. M. Kaye's novel pivots around the Mutiny of 1857," also called the "Sepoy Rebellion." Indian soldiers in the Bengal army of the British East India Company rose against their British rulers in May 1857 and the violent uprising quickly spread throughout British ruled India. "Shadow of the Moon" is the love story of an Anglo-Spanish heiress with vast land holdings in India and a political officer of the East India Company. The author intertwines the lives of these two central characters, and a large supporting cast, with historical events to create a wonderful epic novel.

Ms. Kaye has written more than a historical novel here, although the book is full of romance, intrigue and the extraordinary colors of India. The author is the daughter of Anglo-Indians and writes with an obvious love of the country and all its varied cultures. She portrays many of the colonialist characters with the arrogant and superior attitudes so prevalent at the time and juxtaposes them and their narrowly focused lives against the realities of the world which surrounds them. These Victorian colonial attitudes, beliefs and zeal to spread their culture and religion appear to have made the uprising an inevitability.

I couldn't put this novel down and can't recommend it highly enough!
Jana

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Star crossed lovers, the British Raj & India, what more can you want in a book?, Mar 10 2007

By

Misfit (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Shadow Of The Moon (Paperback)

This was just an amazing book. Once the author set up her characters and story line things just cooked along -- be prepared for the last 200 pages, because you will not surface for air until it's done!

We have Winter, a wealthy heiress born and orphaned in India and sent to England to be raised by mostly uncaring relatives(except for the great-grandfather). When her great-grandfather dies, she is sent at the age of 17 to join her fiancee under the care of Alex Randall, who unbeknownst to her is now a debauched, obese drunk. Alex does try to tell her, but she maintains her childhood image of her "hero" and will not listen, to her great regret.

Lots of trials and tribulations as our hero and heroine travel back to India, the meeting and marriage to Conway and the Sepoy rebellion, and vividly portrayed by an author who has a great knowledge and love of the country and it's history. This is not only a story of two lovers, but one of stubborn, bigoted officials hiding their heads in the sand, treachery, intrigue and the brutal way in which the rebellion played out against the British, even shocking some of their own people.

As with the Far Paviliions, it is shocking to see after 150 years not much of life and politics has changed in the Middle East, nor should the Europeans (or Americans now for that matter) be interfering in their life, culture and religion.

Highly recommended for any lover of historical fiction, India, or just a darn good book. This would make an awesome mini series, the sequences from the attack on the British and Alex and Winter's escape are just breathtaking. As a side note for those loooking for well written books for younger readers, this should be a good choice. Originally written in the 50's, the love scenes are quite chaste. Just be prepared for some gory, though accurate, portrayal of the violence aginst the British (including women and children) during the rebellion.

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Feeling loveless???, Jan 22 2004

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Scamp Lumm "Littlesorrel/christian zionist" (Perseus-Pisces cluster, ~100Mpc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shadow Of The Moon (Paperback)

Read this one. It's the best romance I've ever read and is full of adventure, bravery, suspense and history.

My mother pitched this paperback to me and now I won't part with it. (It's survived many spring cleanings!) It's one of the best fictional tales I've read. Set in nineteenth century British India, M.M. Kaye describes a world with which she and her family for many generations were intimately familiar.

For a long book of 799 pages, (I loved the ending), I actually regretted that there were not more pages!

I have to add that in 1857 there was a horrific massacre of white, British subjects at Cawnpore; that massacre seems to have sent shockwaves throughout the British colonies all over the world at that time. I've just finished Michener's Caribbean where mention is made of Cawnpore and the concern it generated among plantation owners, administrators etc. It's been a while since I read this book, the history therein related a bit fuzzy. My knowledge of India's lengthy history is very scant. Certainly, not all administrators in India were lax and inhumane, but some most likely were; some of M.M. Kaye's fictional characters in this book, are representative of that class. Their lack of insight and the injustices they committed certainly DO NOT justify the means taken against them, but certainly triggered such a desperate, violent response from those victimized.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE...
This is a superlative work of beautifully written, well-researched historical fiction by the author of the best selling, sweeping epic, "The Far Pavilions". Read more

Published on April 17 2004 by Lawyeraau

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reading
The Shadow of the Moon was an enchanting and entrancing novel of India, and one of the best I've ever read. Read more

Published on Dec 26 1998 by pidziore@uslink.net