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The Karma of Love
Lady Orissa Fane experiences various difficulties while traveling from nineteenth-century England to India, including confusion regarding her feelings for the enigmatic Major Meredith, who may be the love of her life.
289 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2006
4 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Cartland
1,045 books853 followersBorn in 1901, Barbara Cartland started her writing career in journalism and completed her first book, Jigsaw, when she was just 24. An immediate success, it was the start of her journey to becoming the world’s most famous and most read romantic novelist of all time. Inspiring a whole generation of readers around the globe with her exciting tales of adventure, love and intrigue, she became synonymous with the Romance genre. And she still is to this day, having written over 644 romantic fiction books.
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, plays, music, poetry and several advice books on life, love, health and cookery – totalling an incredible 723 books in all, with over 1 billion in sales.
Awarded the DBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991 in honour of her literary, political and social contributions, she was President of the Hertfordshire branch of the Royal College of Midwives as well as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and Deputy President of the St John Ambulance Brigade.
Always a passionate advocate of woman’s health and beauty, she was dubbed ‘the true Queen of Romance’ by Vogue magazine in her lifetime. Her legend continues today through her wonderfully vivid romantic tales, stories that help you escape from the day to day into the dramatic adventures of strong, beautiful women who battle, often against the odds, eventually to find that love conquers all.
Find out more about the incredible life and works of Dame Barbara Cartland at www.barbaracartland.com
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, plays, music, poetry and several advice books on life, love, health and cookery – totalling an incredible 723 books in all, with over 1 billion in sales.
Awarded the DBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991 in honour of her literary, political and social contributions, she was President of the Hertfordshire branch of the Royal College of Midwives as well as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and Deputy President of the St John Ambulance Brigade.
Always a passionate advocate of woman’s health and beauty, she was dubbed ‘the true Queen of Romance’ by Vogue magazine in her lifetime. Her legend continues today through her wonderfully vivid romantic tales, stories that help you escape from the day to day into the dramatic adventures of strong, beautiful women who battle, often against the odds, eventually to find that love conquers all.
Find out more about the incredible life and works of Dame Barbara Cartland at www.barbaracartland.com
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 28, 2014
Cartland typical romance with British gallantry
January 31, 2026
Available on open library.
For once we have a Hero who is not a manwhore! If you are a reader of Dame Cartland books, this, unfortunately, is her standard for her leading men. Thankfully and unusually this one is not.
The heroine has been thrown out of her home by her evil step mother, so she goes to her brother for help. Unfortunately she is seen by the Hero and he now thinks she is a disreputable woman who visits bachelors quarters at night.
Her brother comes up with a solution to send her on a ship to India to go live with their uncle. Her brother can get her passage on the ship with a couple that need someone to watch over their grandson, but they want someone who is married. So the heroine passes herself of as a young
wife meeting her husband in India, and gets the post and her trip to India paid.
Well, she encounters the Hero agIn on the ship and regrettably, some other incidents occur that give him an even worse opinion of her. When she arrives in Bombay, the Hero actually offers to assist her to her destination but she continues the lie that she is being met by her husband. The needs to take several trains to get to where her uncle lives only to find out that he has left for a fort in the mountains.
She convinces of his Indian officers to take her with him to get to the uncle. Finally, and after disguising herself in a Sari, the heroine reaches the fort where her uncle is staying. She could not have arrived at a worse time! They are about to be besieged. Luckily the Hero is there again, so he convinces her uncle that she needs to leave because if they are attacked it might not end well for her. The disguise her again and there are several pages of the heroine and the Hero doing a killing trek through the mountains just to get to safety. This is where the heroine finally realizes she loves the Hero.
Finally they reach safety and they receive word that the relief troops have reached the uncle in time. So yeah, in the end she didn’t have to do that punishing ordeal….but anyways, she proved her worthiness to the Hero and they will be married ASAP!!
Yes this one was heavy on the action, adventure part. ❤️
For once we have a Hero who is not a manwhore! If you are a reader of Dame Cartland books, this, unfortunately, is her standard for her leading men. Thankfully and unusually this one is not.
The heroine has been thrown out of her home by her evil step mother, so she goes to her brother for help. Unfortunately she is seen by the Hero and he now thinks she is a disreputable woman who visits bachelors quarters at night.
Her brother comes up with a solution to send her on a ship to India to go live with their uncle. Her brother can get her passage on the ship with a couple that need someone to watch over their grandson, but they want someone who is married. So the heroine passes herself of as a young
wife meeting her husband in India, and gets the post and her trip to India paid.
Well, she encounters the Hero agIn on the ship and regrettably, some other incidents occur that give him an even worse opinion of her. When she arrives in Bombay, the Hero actually offers to assist her to her destination but she continues the lie that she is being met by her husband. The needs to take several trains to get to where her uncle lives only to find out that he has left for a fort in the mountains.
She convinces of his Indian officers to take her with him to get to the uncle. Finally, and after disguising herself in a Sari, the heroine reaches the fort where her uncle is staying. She could not have arrived at a worse time! They are about to be besieged. Luckily the Hero is there again, so he convinces her uncle that she needs to leave because if they are attacked it might not end well for her. The disguise her again and there are several pages of the heroine and the Hero doing a killing trek through the mountains just to get to safety. This is where the heroine finally realizes she loves the Hero.
Finally they reach safety and they receive word that the relief troops have reached the uncle in time. So yeah, in the end she didn’t have to do that punishing ordeal….but anyways, she proved her worthiness to the Hero and they will be married ASAP!!
Yes this one was heavy on the action, adventure part. ❤️
March 12, 2026
Barbara Cartland’s The Karma of Love is a classic romantic escapade set against the exotic backdrop of colonial India, where Lady Orissa Fane—cast out by her family—embarks on a perilous journey that tests her courage and awakens her heart. True to Cartland’s style, the novel brims with melodrama, lush descriptions, and the timeless theme of love triumphing over adversity. While the characters lean toward archetypes and the prose is unabashedly sentimental, the story delivers exactly what Cartland’s readers expect: a comforting blend of adventure, passion, and the promise that destiny and devotion will always prevail.
May 8, 2017
Beautiful heroine seems to have a deep voice fetish in this one. The majors majorly deep voice is mentioned again, and again and again and awakens "strange feelings" in Orissa. This does not stop her from giving orders to every Indian she encounters, none of whom say get lost but actually do her bidding. Added to this is a wicked stepmother, a voyage to India, lots of sewing and a dangerous trek across the mountains. Quite a romp.
January 3, 2020
Dame Cartland seems to have been influenced by Ethel M. Dell's The Way of an Eagle when she wrote The Karma of Love as there are some obvious parallels in the stories. This is written better than some of her later novels, which she produced at a remarkable rate.
March 2, 2018
A short sweet romance revolving around a lady and an English army major with a voice . Oh yes, the obsession with the voice was quite profused . Belonging to the subcontinent and particularly Pakistan, reading the details of pre independence and the British rule was nice.
December 28, 2017
A nice book,representing India,the authors knowledge of India is well seen in the book.But,the hero after knowing she's married still kisses her,that's weird and awkward.
February 19, 2024
Surprisingly action packed, for a Barbara Cartland Novel.
February 16, 2025
When the beautiful young Lady Orissa Fane is thrown out into the cold night by her hateful drunken stepmother, she flees to her brother Charles’s barracks for his help and encounters a stern Major Meredith who clearly disapproves of her wayward brother.
At Charles’s suggestion she travels incognito to Delhi under the name of Mrs. Lane to ask for the support of her dear Uncle Henry, who is the Colonel in charge of his Regiment and on the ship she agrees to look after the grandchild of General Sir Arthur Critchley.
Incredibly, the very same Major Meredith is on the same ship – and after a series of awkward misunderstandings an intense mutual dislike develops between them, so Orissa is glad to be free of him when they disembark at Delhi.
She is thrilled to be back in India where she was brought up and relishes again everything that she has remembered and loved about the country.
But to her dismay her Uncle Henry has left for a Fort on the North-West Frontier where he is battling against hostile tribes and their sinister backers, the Russians.
So, enlisting the protection of a noble Sikh Sergeant-Major, she bravely sets off to join him.
Little does she know what Fate holds in store for her along the way – terrible death-defying danger, another encounter with the hated Major Meredith and, if she lives long enough, love –
At Charles’s suggestion she travels incognito to Delhi under the name of Mrs. Lane to ask for the support of her dear Uncle Henry, who is the Colonel in charge of his Regiment and on the ship she agrees to look after the grandchild of General Sir Arthur Critchley.
Incredibly, the very same Major Meredith is on the same ship – and after a series of awkward misunderstandings an intense mutual dislike develops between them, so Orissa is glad to be free of him when they disembark at Delhi.
She is thrilled to be back in India where she was brought up and relishes again everything that she has remembered and loved about the country.
But to her dismay her Uncle Henry has left for a Fort on the North-West Frontier where he is battling against hostile tribes and their sinister backers, the Russians.
So, enlisting the protection of a noble Sikh Sergeant-Major, she bravely sets off to join him.
Little does she know what Fate holds in store for her along the way – terrible death-defying danger, another encounter with the hated Major Meredith and, if she lives long enough, love –
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews