Women of the Raj

by Margaret MacMillan

In the nineteenth century, at the height of colonialism, the British ruled India under a government known as the Raj. British men and women left their homes and traveled to this mysterious, beautiful country–where they attempted to replicate their own society. In this fascinating portrait, Margaret MacMillan examines the hidden lives of the women who supported their husbands’ conquests–and in turn supported the Raj, often behind the scenes and out of the history books. Enduring heartbreaking separations from their families, these women had no choice but to adapt to their strange new home, where they were treated with incredible deference by the natives but found little that was familiar. The women of the Raj learned to cope with the harsh Indian climate and ward off endemic diseases; they were forced to make their own entertainment–through games, balls, and theatrics–and quickly learned to abide by the deeply ingrained Anglo-Indian love of hierarchy.

Weaving interviews, letters, and memoirs with a stunning selection of illustrations, MacMillan presents a vivid cultural and social history of the daughters, sisters, mothers, and wives of the men at the center of a daring imperialist experiment–and reveals India in all its richness and vitality.

“A marvellous book . . . [Women of the Raj] successfully [re-creates] a vanished world that continues to hold a fascination long after the sun has set on the British empire.”
–The Globe and Mail

“MacMillan has that essential quality of the historian, a narrative gift.”
–The Daily Telegraph

“MacMillan is a superb writer who can bring history to life.”
–The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Well researched and thoroughly enjoyable.”
–Evening Standard

Genres: History, Nonfiction, India, Asia, Historical, Biography, Womens

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1988

About the author

Margaret Olwen MacMillan OC D.Phil. (born 1943) is a historian and professor at Oxford University where she is Warden of St. Antony's College. She is former provost of Trinity College and professor of history at the University of Toronto. A well-respected expert on history and current affairs, MacMillan is a frequent commentator in the media.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to sympathize with someone who has upwards of 5 servants.

Even harder to empathize with a woman who dismissed her Indian servant because he (shudder) held her arm as he saved her from a poisonous snake.

MacMillan doesn't try to hide the facts of racism and dubious "moral superiority" that accompanied life in the British empire. She gives quite an even-handed portrait of the British women who lived in India during the Raj, showing the difficulties of trying to understand a very different culture, especially when one doesn't speak the language. Britain is always referred to as "Home", and the author makes very real the loneliness and longing these women had to deal with, especially when the chilren were sent back for schooling and to escape the "ruinous" effects of the climate. She draws on a wide variety of primary sources, making the book very realistic.

This is a well-written overview that I'd recommend to anyone interested in the British empire, in the effects of colonialism on the colonizers, or in women's history. The only drawback is a lack of information on women who went against the pervading culture. The author doesn't ignore them, but it would have been interesting to see a bit more information about them.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the early 1600's the East India Company began trading in India proper and it didn't take long for them to spread their trading post far and wide. It took even less time for them to turn trading posts into forts and for the Company to develop its very own Army. Britain's rule of India had begun. In 1858, the Company was taken over and formalized by the Government of Britain and became known as the Raj.

Margaret MacMillan doesn't deal with all of that. Her book is about the women that followed the men. In the early days, they came by boat; a long, terrible, dangerous trip. The women were wives, sisters, daughters, fiancees, missionaries, and even young single girls with their chaperones who perhaps hadn't done as well as they'd hoped in the marriage markets back home. By the 1860's the men waiting in India were calling these boats "the fishing fleet" since so many were fishing for husbands. They would find one in India but they would pay a price in the strangeness of the life they would have to lead.

Ms. MacMillan does a wonderful job of describing all the wonders, perils, and advantages that came with being part of the British Raj. Multiple servants for even the lowest ranks but debilitating heat. Endless social activities but a crushingly strict protocol. Loneliness and boredom. Constant moves. She describes every aspect of daily domestic life and some of it is terrifying. Disease, snakes, cooks that strain the soup through socks, cholera. Some of these women seem petty and small minded. They all have the prejudices of their day. They are also capable and brave and dedicated. They made me glad I live in my own time. I'd never have made it in theirs.

[Beth (bibliobeth) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars from me... I read this book as part of a British Empire challenge that I’m participating in with my GoodReads group Bright Young Things, and I was fascinated to read about how British women lived and coped in India during the turbulent years of the nineteenth century. From the synopsis of this book however, I was expecting something a little different. As stated in the synopsis, the author does draw her research from a series of interviews and letters, and there are some stunning photographs and illustrations in the book from the files of her own grandmother, so that also adds the personal touch and makes the story all the more authentic. However, I was expecting the book to be entirely made up of interviews, letters etc, the evidence from the ladies who were there in their own words and what I got was more of a narrative with the occasional name and date thrown in for good measure. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it just wasn’t what I was led to believe from the synopsis.

Back to the book – the author divides it up into a number of sections which I found quite effective. Examples of which include Women in Danger, Courtship and Marriage, Children: Outposts of Empire, Housekeeping, Social Life and Amusements, and Unconventional Women which were among my favourites. What I did find fascinating (though unbelievable by todays standards) was how Britain could swan in, “lay claim” to India during the British Colonialism, and then have them serve their ladies and gentleman like they were beneath them. Sorry, just a slight issue and shame I have with my own country. Anyway, it was often seen as quite a great adventure for some ladies to come and live with their husbands in a foreign climate, (never mind what they often had to endure on the horrendous voyages over), once they arrived, things perhaps were not as exotic as they had pictured? Hotter than hot, with biting insects, the risk of disease, and we must remember the fashions of those times weren’t exactly conducive to a comfortable stay in tropical weather:

“In the nineteenth century they had insisted on crinolines and bustles. (As a result some credulous Indians believed that European women had tails.) Laugh out loud quote for me, and I couldn’t resist including it.

So now “uncomfortably” ensconced in India, the women now have to get used to the fact that they may not see their husbands that often due to work commitments, and they must get used to dealing with their household of Indian servants. Harder than it seems when you don’t know the language or the customs, and could be in danger of desperately offending someone. Social life could also be either considerably stale, with the same small communities, idle chatter and boredom or the opportunity for a bit of adultery if you were that way inclined, and as the author tells us Ethel Savi recalled “women were ready to make merry in the mountains while their husbands toiled on the plains.” There was even a regiment so renowned for their loose morals they were christened “The Fornicating Fifth.” Shocking!

There is a lot of sadness in this book however, namely when it came to bearing children which posed a hazard in itself with the reduced medical expertise available to women in labour. Minnie Blaine’s treatment for “inward piles” at the birth of her second son, ranged from leeches to hot fomentations on her stomach, from enemas of opium to “the Galvanic Battery.” I don’t even want to know! Battling through the traumas of birth, mothers then had the fight to keep their children alive. Many succumbed to common ailments such as colds, colic, dysentery, fever and sunstroke then you have the added danger of malaria and smallpox to contend with. Also, we must remember that diseases of this type and their treatment was little known about until the end of the nineteenth century so many children suffered and died early in their lives. And if they survived this, children were often sent back to England for their schooling at a certain age, so the woman had to decide whether to accompany her child and abandon her husband or vice versa.

This was definitely an intriguing and yes at points uncomfortable read for me, but I think it is important that we have books like this to show us our history and the history of other countries so we can hopefully learn from our mistakes. I think we can look on the Women of the Raj and laugh sometimes at their whims and fancies, and perhaps scold for their attitudes but they were undeniably brave to journey to a distant land with no idea what they were letting themselves in for.

Please see my full review at http://www.bibliobeth.wordpress.com

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will read anything by Margaret MacMillan; she is a first class scholar and historian and writes beautifully as well. I've been looking forward to this one as I've had a lifelong interest in India. I became particularly interested in the women of the Raj when I saw the magnificent Masterpiece Theatre production of The Jewel in the Crown in 1984 based on Paul Scott's monumental Raj Quartet which I read at least every two or three years.

[Morgan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating (& unbiased) look at the British women of the British Raj. What a splendid job the author did compiling this book. I read this for novel research but it would be a great read for anyone!

[Sara W · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking for a book to give me a general idea of what it was like to be a woman in British India, and this book gave me exactly what I wanted. It was interesting and well organized. It's not an amazing or "wow" read, but I'm giving it 5 stars because I can't really think of anything it was lacking. Maybe some people aren't a fan of the memsahibs, but this books tries to portray them as objectively as possible.

[Alesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating history of women in colonial India. I loved learning about the challenges they faced, how their roles evolved over time, and who they were back Home before they arrived (and how miserable they often were after returning). I found the author to be very sympathetic; she understood all of the biases against "memsahibs", but also showed how impossible it often was to be a good wife and mother during the Raj.

I met women similar to these in post-colonial Jamaica. Also, a woman's life in a Saudi Arabian oil camp was very similar. Basically, Raj women were a particular subset of expat women (which I have been on many different occasions). So I appreciated the insights from the book. Also, the author provided fascinating discussions about some of the literature about the Raj, such as Forster and Scott's The Raj Quartet, which added a lot of depth to my understanding of those works. Women of the Raj is a great companion to the body of expat literature.

[Ubah Khasimuddin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone like me with not only an interest in this time period but a personal connection, this book was fascinating. It tells of the women of the British Empire who came out to India. Currently living in Delhi, the evidence of these ladies is still present, their aura hangs as does the whole colonial feel (it helps that I live in Lutyen's portion of Delhi, which would have been their main haunt).
The book really explains the everyday lives of these ladies and tries to help us readers place the women in context of their time; yes they were often racist and social snobs, but that was of the time. They were taught they were better than the local Indians, for most they would not be able to think otherwise.
What I found fascinating was the way by the end of the Raj, how disconnected they were from the homeland, they thought Great Britain and everyone back home was heavily in support of continuing this branch of the British Empire and yet that was far from the truth. Also, reading about the ladies who came in the early and mid-1800's could not have had an easy time of it. I love how the author describes the painful journeys in the ships just to get to India. And the interesting thing was how difficult it was for the ladies to travel around India and all the other difficulties associated with this tropical climate - I have to give a nod of the hat for their perseverance in staying on amidst so many trials.
It was enjoyable to learn about the different centers of power in British Raj, one tends to forget the Pakistan portions when you live in India, but that was very much British India and very important.
I would recommend this book primarily for people like me who are really excited about the subject, otherwise if you are only half-hearted or want a more introductory book, this is not for you. Its dense with details that I loved but the armchair researcher might find boring. If you are into the British empire or British Raj or history of India during British rule, this is a good addition to your library.

[oreveth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to review, because as the author herself notes, a lot has changed in what we expect from historical analysis. "Women of the Raj" was a pioneer in that it takes the everyday lives of women seriously. But in many ways, it doesn't take them seriously enough. While plenty of details are described, and major trends are sketched out, neither are truly analysed.

Sometimes, the author even pre-emptively shuts down discussion by handwaving: "They weren't really racist." Look, you don't have to outright denounce your memsahibs for failing to be woke. But how can you fail to have a decent discussion about race and power in a book about the Raj? Another review here mentioned the servant who was fired for touching a woman in order to save her from a poisonous snake. The brief, almost cutesy treatment this story gets is highly weird. Other anecdotes come across as profoundly tone-deaf, as when a servant announces the birth of his son by describing it to his masters as the arrival of the future servant of the white kid. The author offers this as a touching story of how close British families with their servants. Yikes?

The book could really have benefited from a closer examination of gender relations among Indian people at the time. The author takes it for granted that sexism was worse among Indians, but how exactly, and why, and in which communities? She points some fingers at Mānava-Dharmaśāstra, but that text only gained legal force in India because the British made it so.

I don't want to completely dunk on "Women of the Raj," because the places where it brings in nuance are great (like with opposing views of what constitutes hygienic cooking among British vs Indian cooks), and it has plenty of fascinating information besides. What I really wish is not that it was different, but that it added more: more complexity, more comparison, more analysis.

[Camilla]

I came across this in a used bookstore over 15 years ago. It caught my eye and I’ve been intrigued with the topic since. I finally started it a year ago and went through it slowly, often pausing to read the original sources it cited before coming back to continue. It definitely gave a great overview, and offered interesting individual examples throughout. I’m grateful for all the information this author gathered and then harnessed into this work. It’s definitely not an easy topic to research, as I’ve learned in my own digging, and she certainly unearthed quite a bit.

Overall, she sheds light on an often ignored piece of women’s history and I’m thankful for all she uncovered.

[Grace Harsche · Rating 3 out of 5]

My boss gave me this book over the summer and I just got around to reading it. It was interesting because it was written by the great granddaughter of a woman who lived in the Raj so you kind of have to navigate her bias throughout the whole book. I did however like it because I love hearing about the every day happenings of those in the past.

[Carolyn Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The British have had a long-standing relationship with India, from earliest days of exploration. The East India Company was established in 1599, and it had a monopoly on trade between England and the lands east of the Cape of Good Hope, granted by Queen Elizabeth I.

Over the years, Britain also began to be involved in the politics of India, as the many small principalities and kingdoms were not connected into one nation, as they are today. During the nineteenth century, this involvement was very complex, with thousands of British citizens living in their own almost isolated society within the diversity of Indian cultures. This period of time, which occurred during the height of British Colonialism in the nineteenth century, and for a few years into the twentieth century, was called the period of the Raj.

The British officials sent to govern and trade in India were all men, and they brought with them their families, wives, daughters, and mothers, to live as women mostly did in those days, to be the background support system. The women were not there with any power to govern their lives, but to make the households, keep up social ties between the white colonists, and raise the children. How they did live is the subject of this wonderful book. Details of their daily life abound, with sources cited, and a very interesting bibliography at the end of the book. The writing is clear, the book is well organized into sections, and I enjoyed reading, at last, how these women really got by in a land so radically different from their homeland.

I feel inspired by this book to interrupt my planned reading, to reread some books I find on the bibliography that I enjoyed long ago. I think I will start with books by Rumer Godden.

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

India fascinates me. Reading M. M. Kaye's novel "Shadow of the Moon" many years ago pulled me in and since then I have read quite a variety of fiction and non-fiction with India as a setting. Such is my obsession that I read the bibliographies of non-fiction books to find other books to read.....which may be how I came to find this one.

This book was a very readable account of women's experiences in India from the beginning of the British presence there up to the end in 1947. Chapters cover a particular topic, such as social life, love and marriage, children, and travel. MacMillan offers a lot of information but presents it in little bites made personal by telling brief stories of individual women. So much of it seemed familiar to me because of all the novels and memoirs I've read; the "Raj" lifestyle must have been a pretty common experience all across that sprawling land.

Reading about what these women went through gives me such respect for their toughness and ability to cope with difficult situations. Of course there were snobs and racists, given the times, but these women adapted (and some thrived) in circumstances that would wilt many of us.

[Anuj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this book to gain a different perspective on Indian history and it certainly didn’t disappoint. What I took away was that these were ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances. In some ways they are trying to preserve “Home” life as much as possible in India as that’s just what was expected of them. But before we just pass them off as poor hapless beings, it is important to remember that they benefited greatly from the power structures in place and did everything possible to maintain those.

Overall the book paints a rich picture of the realities of life in colonial India from a perspective I hadn’t seen before - what brought these women to India, how they adapted (and in more ways didn’t), the struggles of being an instrument of the Raj and resulting expectations, and more broadly how they just passed the time. In a way it’s the worst type of immigrant - refusing to adapt to their new country, actively looking down on their people, all while being increasingly out of touch with Home.

[Ginny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book rather tedious. I feel as if I've been reading it for several months, rather than for just two weeks. I would have preferred a more chronological approach instead of so much jumping around between centuries. I am very interested in the subject matter. especially now while "Indian Summers" is showing on Masterpiece Theatre, but this seemed like lots of anecdotes strung together haphazardly without ever being transformed into a captivating narrative. I appreciate the extensive bibliography and notes the author has provided and will use them for further reading.

[Susan Lorenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as a companion piece to the PBS series "Indian Summers". A social history of the lives of women over the several hundred years of the Raj. Not a history of British rule by any means but does contain a harrowing chapter on the Mutiny of 1857. Hit the spot for this Anglophile by giving insight into the lives of ordinary wives and mothers coping with a foreign home and lifestyle while upholding British values.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of the Godden sisters will enjoy this. They are referenced a few times. Kipling too. The author paints a portrait of women doing their best under difficult circumstances and, probably because her own family were part of the raj, does not condemn them harshly for being products of their own time.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really I would give this book 2.5 stars if I could. I'm hovering somewhere between liking it and just thinking it was okay. Towards the end, it got a little tedious to read. It's a really interesting subject, I just found the way the chapters to be formatted a little repetitive after a while.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked learning about how the British *women* behaved in India during the century and a half of British rule. However, the book consists mainly of interesting anecdotes where I would have liked a more comprehensive coverage.

[Anamitra Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to Read, however the chapters seem repetitive. We do learn how the British led quite a hard life initially, how the Army frowned on women joining the raj. The terrible ship journeys across the cape of good hope, slowly things got better with the land crossing over egypt, bigger ships, steamships coming into the scene and then opening of the Suez Canal. The fact that people went over land to Italy and then crossed over at Egypt. That the egyptians were crooks even then. A real eye opener was the dress the women wore, multiple layers and did not shrink it when they came to India. These had to brought all the way from England. The heat, the monsoon, the insects, the animals, and then diseases, Malaria, typhoid, dysentery, almost everything was present and could kill any moment. How trains were exclusively for the Europeans .


The most disgusting is how the Toilets were cleaned in each house, with no sewerage systems.
The marriage schemes prevalent at that time is very interesting , almost like arranged marriage or similar. The trouble the ladies went through to land a good husband. The shock a newly wed wife had to find his husband had multiple local mistresses, the fishing fleet, was something unique to the British Indian culture.

The killing of women and children and the anger/wrath of the indians expressed mostly in North India, Meerut, Cawnpur , Northern provinces, sheer scale of violence, not known to modern India. The fact that this was confined to the north only and did not spread to Calcutta , Mumbai and South India is not much known. We also did not know that a lot of white ,men women and children were killed in brutal ways,

The amount of servants , from 10 to 50 per household is mind boggling , she has given accurate names for the servants like Bhisti for those responsible to fetch the water to the house. The accurate description of hierarchy in the servants is amazing. How the ladies got bored doing housework and nothing else .

The Love life of the women, flirting , adultery , horse riding are all well described. A unique perspective was that the British found the sikhs and Muslims more similar to them, and they found the Hindus repulsive, They found similarities in the Mosques to churches and the Islamic Tombs, however they did not understand the bizzare Temples with its open display of genitals amorous positions,

Learnt about sister Nivedita, and how she became a disciple if Swami Vivekananda from his london trip. In 15 short years she made a remarkable mark in the country with her work.

A lot of british had a love hate relationship with India, they had secretly fallen in love and it was difficult migrating back. A very uncanny resemblance to Indians in US, who always want to come back to their home in India but never do. The Jallianwala bagh massacre is seen through a different british womens lens's and how they the women raised the money (26000 pounds for him) to ensure he doesn’t get censured.

Overall a very good book to understand how the British lived in India, how they viewed Indians.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thames and Hudson kindly sent me a few stunningly beautiful books last month that I adored and I was sent a few more (thank you!) which the first being Women of the Raj. It's a non-fiction book with a gorgeous cover and a topic that I know nothing about!

It starts with the horrendous journey to India for both men and women in the 1800s and early 1900s which is something I would not want to experience! It also looks at the travellers first impressions of India and it's people as well as how they perceive this foreign exotic country, cultural clashes and how the Europeans try to carry on with their own version of society in a country that is very different to their own.

Throughout the book the author not only describes the experiences, history and culture concisely and in a way that isn't dry, dusty or dreary but it's also accurate as the author draws on individual accounts from that time. I personally didn't know too much about the raj, the individual experiences of europeans in India or the caste system in India so it was definitely informative! I wasn't taught anything throughout my schooling about India or the British empire so this book in it's accurate, informative and surprisingly easy way definitely helped fill in the blanks in my knowledge. I'd definitely recommend it as a unique, interesting and very niche non-fiction read. It's great to see a book focusing on women's experiences as so much of history is focused on men!

[C. A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve spent years in India and have always had a morbid fascination with the women of the British Raj era. I’ve walked around cemeteries and seen how so many of them died young. I’ve worn lightweight Indian clothing and still wilted in the heat, wondering how women survived whilst wearing Victorian era clothing. This book satisfies my curiosity on the subject. Sometimes the structure seemed disjointed and the narrative contradictory—meaning that one paragraph would make a blanket statement and the next would give an example that contradicted it. There were times when it felt as if the author had thrown random paragraphs together without enough organization. (I found this to be true of her recent book on the subject of war.) I prefer William Dalrymple’s writing more (storytelling rather than fact-giving), but a well-rounded portrait emerges in MacMillan’s book and I’m thankful for it. Most historians who write about this period focus on the men, and this is a welcomed change.

[Lizzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took forever to read because I have a 7 month old beb who takes up all my time, but it was worth it! It’s a bit dry and list-y at times, and Macmillan focuses on some quite boring details a bit much, and I wanted more in the chapter on children as I think this was quite brief. But overall this was a fascinating book and I got a vivid picture of these women’s lives. My grandmother was born in India to an Indian mother and British father, and came to England in the 1940s so it was wonderful to get more of an idea of what her life in India might have been like - although I would have loved there to be more detail on mixed families like hers and the Anglo-Indian community. If anyone can recommend any books on the Anglo-Indian community, especially those who came to the UK, please let me know.

[L F · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit to having a strange addiction to Raj and anything relating to that period of Indian History.
So, this was a natural for me to read.
I still do not have a good read on these women who went over with their husbands or sailed with the “fishing fleets” to find a husband. It does seem that their lives were much better in India than in England. Every thing was better, it would be hard to dispute that fact. But, also, you cannot deny that the country was vastly different and they often felt isolated. Many could not fade back to Great Britain, even if it was referred to as home.
All in all It would have to be one of the historical places and time I would like to walk back into and experience. Oh if only I could travel back in time.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remarkable work holding aloft British privilege and assumption of sovereignty in India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The work of British men is not presented, only the lives of women - those dedicated to their transplanted culture and mis-remembered homeland. Primary sources used, the diaries and oral histories of women who experienced the last days of British rule in India. Sad in so many ways, and gives another meaning to women's work though I know I am looking backwards with today's sensibilities. The photographs and illustrations are hypnotic, so evocative. At some time, I stumbled on an exhibit of drawings from these places and this time and just wandered for hours, wondering at the strangeness of an exotic place.

[Candi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. I found the construction by topic to work well considering the length of the period covered. At the same time, I am not sure there was a clear differentiation of changes over time. When the same women were discussed multiple times in multiple chapters it was hared to keep track of who each was.

My biggest disappointment was the lack of useful supplemental information, such as a map or maps, a glossary for Indian words (including which Indian language they are from), and a timeline of the ladies discussed. All of these items would have greatly enhanced this book and aided in giving more depth to the information.

[Leyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book as part of a personal study to better understand the extent to which the current expat life (aid workers, businesses, etc. generally predominated by members of the global North) in developing countries in the Global South resembles that of the colonialists of the past. "Women of the Raj" answered a great deal of those questions. I give it four stars because it's very thorough and well documented, offers enough context to understand certain behaviours of the past, but without excusing them.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fairly short book gives a window into the strange world of the Raj-India prior to independence. It leans towards a sympathetic view of the ruling race, but that is not necessarily a strike against it since in all things, balance is needed. Of course, I feel like I need to read a book that explores more specifically the life of the Indian peoples who were under the thumbs of the white population during this time.

I certainly enjoyed it, but I don't think it compares to some of MacMillan's newer works. It certainly does not grab the interest as much.

Still, worth a quick read.

[Mallee Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a well written close look at women who braved the journey by ship to stay in India during British rule. From the beginning right through until India’s independence, we follow women who came to join their husbands or in the hope of getting married. We learn about their journey by sea, their first impressions and their social life. For anyone interested in India during the British Raj, this is an informative read.

Often when I research a topic for the next writing project, the work’s not written well or doesn’t grab my interest, but this Canadian historian has done a top job.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look into a part of history that usually doesn't seem to get a lot of attention, that is the Raj from the British women's point of view. I enjoyed the style of writing although the main points of each chapter do sometimes get a bit lost between the many quotes from contemporary sources, however those diary entries, letters and other snippets of writing are what carry the story and help bring the women to life as more than names on a page.