Book Synopsis:
Tamil Nadu, southern India, 1765. Maya plays among the towering granite temples in the ancient city of Tanjore.
Like her mother before her, she is destined to become a devadasi, a dancer for the temple. On the day of her initiation, a stranger arrives in town. Walter Sutcliffe, a black-frocked clergyman, strives to offer moral guidance to the British troops stationed in Tanjore, but is beset by his own demons.
When the British tear apart her princely kingdom, Maya heads to the steamy port city of Madras, where Thomas Pearce, an ambitious young Englishman, is entranced from the moment he first sees her.
The Pagoda Tree takes us deep into the heart of a country struggling under brutal occupation. As East and West collide, Walter Sutcliffe unknowingly plays the decisive card in Maya’s destiny.
The Pagoda Tree is available now in ebook and hardback, you can buy a copy of both here.
My Review:
I so enjoyed this wonderful piece of historical fiction about a period of history I knew little about.
I loved how the author throws the reader straight into the book so that they feel immediately involved in this unusual story. This period of time in India utterly fascinated me and I really enjoyed learning more about it. Women are obviously thought of as the lower sex, the most important jobs being ones that involve pleasing men which did infuriate me at times, however both Maya and Palani seem determined to make the best of their situation which was great to see.
The author cleverly woves fascinating historical facts into the story which really intrigued me. It was interesting to learn more about the religions that were around at that time and how they operated. I’d never heard of women being ‘dancers’ of the temples or some of the god’s they followed so that was an eye opener for me. I also enjoyed learning more about the way villages operated and how so called justice was carried out. I couldn’t believe some of the decisions that were made and felt it was very unfair that they were carried out with the skant evidence provided. If made my blood boil in frustration as I read about the injust sentences being carried out.
I really liked Maya and admired the strengthshe shows in the situations she go ds herself in. I felt very sorry for her with her stuff relationship with her mother as I felt all she wanted was a bit of love. Her relationship with her aunt was lovely to read about and it was heart warming to read about some of the conversations they have.
This is a well paced book which I loved reading as I so enjoyed learning more about the period. Told from the point of view of Maya, Palani and an English priest this is a story that allows you to become fully immersed in the story and dazzles with the fabulous descriptions of another time and culture.
This is the author’s debut novel and Im so excited to read more from her in the future. If you like historical fiction, especially ones set in British rules India then you will love this book.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Over The Rainbow Blog 