Play Book Tag discussion

Please note that I didn't read this with this tag in mind, but there is a significant chunk of this book where the protagonist is a spy for the British guard as he spent his formative years in India, was orphaned and raised by an Indian woman for some years, so was able to pass as an Afghan.

The Goodreads blurb: A magnificent romantic/historical/adventure novel set in India at the time of mutiny. The Far Pavilions is a story of 19th Century India, when the thin patina of English rule held down dangerously turbulent undercurrents. It is a story about and English man - Ashton Pelham-Martyn - brought up as a Hindu and his passionate, but dangerous love for an Indian princess. It's a story of divided loyalties, of tender camaraderie, of greedy imperialism and of the clash between east and west. To the burning plains and snow-capped mountains of this great, humming continent, M.M. Kaye brings her quite exceptional gift of immediacy and meticulous historical accuracy, plus her insight into the human heart.

The author was born and raised in India and spoke Hindustani before English and always loved India passionately, so it is fair to say she could relate with her protagonist and was not writing as a foreign born person or person raised in isolation from the people and culture of England.

This book takes place primarily in India, with a bit in England and a fair chunk in Afghanistan. this isn't just about a man who is torn between two peoples, the British and the Indians who is in love with a woman he is forbidden to love from all sides, but it is about the relationship between the British and the Indians, the prejudices deeply ingrained in the Hindu and Muslim peoples as well as in the British and the deep and abiding friendships Ash has with people.

It's long, but worth the read. This is an average rating of my two readings because I loved it more the first time when it was all new to me, but it is a worthy read.

I enjoyed this very much too. I only read it back in 2013, but I remember watching the mini-series in my late teens and being captivated by it.

Karin, I'm surprised you hadn't read it before. I read it back in the'80's and went through a MM Kaye period . She has written some nice mysteries that are much shorter.

I read it in the 80’s and also went through an M.M. Kaye period.

Ladyslott wrote: "I read it in the 80’s and also went through an M.M. Kaye period."

I believe it. I think we are nearly the same age and went through many of the same reading periods. I checked our comparison and we have 405 books in common!

Booknblues wrote: "Karin, I'm surprised you hadn't read it before. I read it back in the'80's and went through a MM Kaye period . She has written some nice mysteries that are much shorter."

I did read it before, back in 1979. But I remembered very little after all this time.

I have been wanting to read this - have enjoyed her mysteries. It just seems like such a commitment!

❇Critterbee wrote: "I have been wanting to read this - have enjoyed her mysteries. It just seems like such a commitment!"

It takes time, that's for sure, but I have been reading very long novels for years (not all the time, of course). I just took my time and read other things as well, but I usually have more than one book on the go.

Like a few posters here, I also read in the 80's and went through an M.M. Kaye period.

And The Far Pavilions is a long-term favorite of mine. May be worth a re-read.

Sue wrote: "Like a few posters here, I also read in the 80's and went through an M.M. Kaye period.

And The Far Pavilions is a long-term favorite of mine. May be worth a re-read."

I had forgotten almost all of it.