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A Superb Historical Romance Set Against The British Raj
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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In the shadow of "The Far Pavilions"
If you liked M.M. Kaye's "Far Pavilions" of TV miniseries fame, you may find this earlier work by the author even more enjoyable. A romance novel to be sure, but non-fans of the genre (I am usually amongst their number) will find it a very pleasant surprise, especially if you can get a copy of the early editions, which were considerably shorter than those that came out after the success of the "Far Pavilions". Ms. Kaye's outstanding attention to Indian historical and cultural detail surrounding the Great Sepoy Mutiny supplements the central love story wonderfully. Actually, the reader soon becomes aware that "Shadow of the Moon" is a tale of two love stories - one between Alex and Winter and one between Ms. Kaye and the people, culture and land of India. If you like a good love story, lots of action, many interesting secondary characters, and a generous dose of education about a fascinating and pivotal time in Indian and British history, this book is a must read.

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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". The author was born in India, where she lived most of her life. Her love of that country is evident in her loving, descriptive passages of the land of her birth. Her assessment of Anglo-Indian relations during the time of the British Raj is infused in the characters of her spellbinding novel. With exotic, mid-eighteenth century India as a backdrop for most of this engrossing story, the reader is swept away by its beautifully descriptive narrative. It is in India that the fate of a beautiful, young, Anglo-Spaniard heiress with the improbable name of Winter Ballasteros and that of Captain Alex Randall, a commissioned officer with the East India Company, are irrevocably intertwined.

Born in India and orphaned at an early age, Winter is brought up in England but is always longing for the land of her birth. The opportunity to return home to India presents itself when she is betrothed at a tender age to the debauched Conway Barton, the grasping Commissioner of Lunjore, who is many years her senior. Captain Randall, who is sent by the Commissioner to escort his betrothed to India, is loathe to do so, knowing the Commissioner to be no fit husband for a seventeen year old girl, Moreover, Captain Randall is keenly sensitive to the potentially dangerous feelings of unrest that seem to be sweeping India, as its native population begins to chafe under the insensitive rule of its colonial masters.

Once in India and against a backdrop of native unrest, Winter and Captain Randall slowly begin to develop a relationship. When the Sepoy Rebellion of 1957 occurs, Winter and Captain Randall are thrown together. They discover that they must struggle to survive the madness and bloodlust that is all around them, as they witness atrocities beyond comprehension. The author gives a vivid re-creation of the Siege of Delhi, as well as a plaintive telling of the massacre of women and children at Cawnpore, a horrific bloodbath from which even the natives themselves shrank. It is against this tumultuous, historical backdrop that the personal drama of Winter and Captain Randall is juxtaposed.

With a wonderful cast of Indian and Anglo characters, the author gives the reader a sense of the vastness of India with its many different religions and castes. She successfully depicts the colonialist attitudes that would serve to unite Indians whose paths might not ordinarily cross and galvanize them to take violent action in an attempt to break the oppressive, colonial yoke. The Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 would be a lesson that England would long remember.

This is a riveting novel that those who love well-written historical fiction will enjoy, as will those who simply love a well told tale. Bravo!