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The Tiger & The Ruby: A Journey to the Other Side of British India
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288 pages, Paperback
Published April 25, 2019
3 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Kief Hillsbery
5 books8 followersKief Hillsbery is an American writer and Lambda Literary Award nominee.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 22, 2021
3.7 stars rounded up. It was a very fascinating book and entertaining trying to find information about an ancestor
March 19, 2020
Till about 3/4th of the way into the book, I thought it was an simple book that mixed history and travelogue. I found some bits of it interesting, and had bits where I disagreed with the focus of the author. I was mentally preparing to give this book a 2-star rating.
But the final 1/4th of the book was superbly put together. It ending read almost like a mystery novel that tried up the loose ends in the final few chapters. The final parts of the book wrap the stories beautifully and illustrate the author's craft.
But the final 1/4th of the book was superbly put together. It ending read almost like a mystery novel that tried up the loose ends in the final few chapters. The final parts of the book wrap the stories beautifully and illustrate the author's craft.
October 11, 2023
Only my immense fondness for the author's 'War Boy' prevents me from giving this book one star and shelving it as 'Disappointing' and 'Waste of Time'. At three quarters through the book I was convinced that the author's 'ancestor' Nigel Halleck was no more than a fictional construct. By the end I was willing to accept that he might have existed but find it odd that there is no bibliographic information about the letters and other documents that would support the existence of Nigel*. It is disappointing that though he has read an awful lot of antique memoirs and histories dealing with Britain's Indian empire he has not consulted any of the major Indian or UK archives which might have provided more paper traces on his elusive ancestor and the elusive circumstances that lead him to settle in Nepal. It is also a pity that he did not approach the writer/historian of the British in India William Dalrymple who was at the time completing his magisterial history of the East India Company (The Anarchy, published 2019) although he did use Dalrymple's 'White Mugals' he would have done well to consult the same author's 'The Rage of Khali' and 'Koh-I-Noor' to have avoided talking utter rot about Thugee cult and the history of the famous diamond.
My main problem with this book is that it sounds like it is going to be a queer version (sorry if that is a spoiler but really if you read even the minimal information provided in the author's bio you really shouldn't be surprised) of Ruth Prawer Jhabavala's 'Heat and Dust' - a journey by a descendant/relative to India to explore and understand an ancient family scandal/mystery. Unfortunately although it contains small amounts of those elements, and is vociferously sold on those elements, it is more of a very mediocre and simplistic history of British India before the mutiny - typical but infuriating is his use the writings of Kipling and E.M. Forster to explain events, circumstances and a culture long before they were born. The author plays fast and free with quotations from memoirs and letters and elides them into discussions of what his ancestor might, or might not, have been doing to leave the impression that these quotes are in fact his ancestors.
My final dislike is the number of perplexing errors of fact when describing places he is supposed to have visited - the doors on the Golghar granary in Patna, India, which he says only opened inwards so it could never be filled with grain is an urban legend which anyone visiting the site would easily contradict and is specifically demolished on various internet sites, some of which must have been available when the author was writing (the book was published in 2017 well into the internet era). He also describes the 108 'bull faced' faucets at the Muktinath shrine though the photographs on various internet sites show them to be ordinary looking spouts, they may represent bull's heads but they are not shaped like bull's heads. I can't help wondering if he actually was at these places and why, if he was and had forgotten, he didn't do any simple online research.
The real annoyance is that if he had been open throughout the book about his being 'gay' and his speculation at his ancestor being so, it would have allowed him to make a more interesting, lively and informative journey through the often bizarre, but rampantly sodomy loving (using the word gay to describe these cultures is just absurd) cultures that still existed back in the 19th century in places like Siwa in Egypt and amongst the Pashtans of Northern India/Afghanistan.
I can't help thinking that he made a conscious decision to not write a 'gay' book, or at least to keep man-on-man sex out of the narrative until nearly the end where it is largely dealt with as a man-on-man 'love' story - which it may have been - but I can't help thinking it a decision based on marketing rather than literary priorities.
*That he quotes his ancestor Nigel describing in letters the unique decor of the Tara Masjid mosque in Decca, Pakistan, when neither the particular decorative scheme which gave the name to the mosque existed before 1921, does nothing to convince me of the reality of the letters existence. The use of a capital letter such as, for example, 'S' for most of the people mentioned in the letters is also curious, did he really write home and conceal the identity of the people he was meeting and travelled with?
My main problem with this book is that it sounds like it is going to be a queer version (sorry if that is a spoiler but really if you read even the minimal information provided in the author's bio you really shouldn't be surprised) of Ruth Prawer Jhabavala's 'Heat and Dust' - a journey by a descendant/relative to India to explore and understand an ancient family scandal/mystery. Unfortunately although it contains small amounts of those elements, and is vociferously sold on those elements, it is more of a very mediocre and simplistic history of British India before the mutiny - typical but infuriating is his use the writings of Kipling and E.M. Forster to explain events, circumstances and a culture long before they were born. The author plays fast and free with quotations from memoirs and letters and elides them into discussions of what his ancestor might, or might not, have been doing to leave the impression that these quotes are in fact his ancestors.
My final dislike is the number of perplexing errors of fact when describing places he is supposed to have visited - the doors on the Golghar granary in Patna, India, which he says only opened inwards so it could never be filled with grain is an urban legend which anyone visiting the site would easily contradict and is specifically demolished on various internet sites, some of which must have been available when the author was writing (the book was published in 2017 well into the internet era). He also describes the 108 'bull faced' faucets at the Muktinath shrine though the photographs on various internet sites show them to be ordinary looking spouts, they may represent bull's heads but they are not shaped like bull's heads. I can't help wondering if he actually was at these places and why, if he was and had forgotten, he didn't do any simple online research.
The real annoyance is that if he had been open throughout the book about his being 'gay' and his speculation at his ancestor being so, it would have allowed him to make a more interesting, lively and informative journey through the often bizarre, but rampantly sodomy loving (using the word gay to describe these cultures is just absurd) cultures that still existed back in the 19th century in places like Siwa in Egypt and amongst the Pashtans of Northern India/Afghanistan.
I can't help thinking that he made a conscious decision to not write a 'gay' book, or at least to keep man-on-man sex out of the narrative until nearly the end where it is largely dealt with as a man-on-man 'love' story - which it may have been - but I can't help thinking it a decision based on marketing rather than literary priorities.
*That he quotes his ancestor Nigel describing in letters the unique decor of the Tara Masjid mosque in Decca, Pakistan, when neither the particular decorative scheme which gave the name to the mosque existed before 1921, does nothing to convince me of the reality of the letters existence. The use of a capital letter such as, for example, 'S' for most of the people mentioned in the letters is also curious, did he really write home and conceal the identity of the people he was meeting and travelled with?
January 21, 2022
Alright, confessions first! I loved this book. And I cannot tell you why. Try as I might, i won't do justice to explaining how I grew into this book.
It reads partly like a travelogue and partly like historical fiction and while I was amazed at the mix and match of both these genres as the writing progressed (and yes, it did, quite literally, it was progressively more engaging as the narrative went by), I did not expect the residual feeling to be this strong.
I remember sitting with a book of paintings by the 2 Daniells(uncle and nephew) of India during the British Raj in a tea bungalow for days together slowly consuming every stroke and every choice of colour giving me inputs about the world that was..... and somehow, finishing this book gave me a similar feel. The seemingly unimportant details about every fort, every ruler, every battle and every historical recording all come together in this collection. But where the book of paintings showed me few glimpses, the words of Hillsbery did much more. They tied all the vast amount of historical and fictional information together to present something that ended up feeling very personal. Maybe because the story at the core of the book is more about "belonging" somewhere rather than forsaking something. Well, depends on the reader and how he/she is approaching the book. If you wish for a story with characters that are clearly defined and plot points to ponder, then stay away from this one. But if you can wait until what the author has set adrift in the wind reaches you, then go for this one. It will be worth your time.
It reads partly like a travelogue and partly like historical fiction and while I was amazed at the mix and match of both these genres as the writing progressed (and yes, it did, quite literally, it was progressively more engaging as the narrative went by), I did not expect the residual feeling to be this strong.
I remember sitting with a book of paintings by the 2 Daniells(uncle and nephew) of India during the British Raj in a tea bungalow for days together slowly consuming every stroke and every choice of colour giving me inputs about the world that was..... and somehow, finishing this book gave me a similar feel. The seemingly unimportant details about every fort, every ruler, every battle and every historical recording all come together in this collection. But where the book of paintings showed me few glimpses, the words of Hillsbery did much more. They tied all the vast amount of historical and fictional information together to present something that ended up feeling very personal. Maybe because the story at the core of the book is more about "belonging" somewhere rather than forsaking something. Well, depends on the reader and how he/she is approaching the book. If you wish for a story with characters that are clearly defined and plot points to ponder, then stay away from this one. But if you can wait until what the author has set adrift in the wind reaches you, then go for this one. It will be worth your time.
January 17, 2020
I enjoyed the book immensely. But then I am a history buff and the book is about the history of my country. What's more, it is about the time in the country's history that one has either not heard about or heard one-sided versions.
The author has also rendered his narration with an interesting mix of facts and fiction. Other mixes are that of a travelogue and historical fiction, present and past...
It is also a romance, but that is revealed close to the end.
The author has also rendered his narration with an interesting mix of facts and fiction. Other mixes are that of a travelogue and historical fiction, present and past...
It is also a romance, but that is revealed close to the end.
March 24, 2020
Very interesting book showing another side to “British India”. I enjoyed reading Nigel’s story and your search for him.
March 2, 2021
Very interesting cross-genre book - detective, history and travelogue!
March 18, 2022
I really enjoyed it
March 22, 2025
Well researched andinttreguing delve into a specific time and person in a family history. The East India Company and India is well described and the book is very atmospheric.
October 28, 2025
Really struggled with this one. It could have been a long read blog post.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews