East of the Sun by Julia Gregson

          

           

     The backdrop is colonial India in 1928.

The story follows the experiences of three young Brithish ladies

on their way to India ,

all with vivid characters.

Young and beautiful Rose is to leave her very sick father in the UK to marry a British Army Officer in India whom she barely knows.

Her bridesmaid the bubbly Tor, eager to get rid of her domineering mother,

is an enthusiastic member of the "Fishing Fleet"

hoping to find herself a husband on board or in India .

And Viva, a strong and independent girl who has lost the whole family at young age and went back to India to get back a trunk of her parents,

became their inexperienced chaperone.

There is also Guy Glover, an unstable sixteen-year-old,

whom Viva took care of in exchange for the fare of the ship. 

Guy has mental problems and developed affection for Viva which later became the cause of some very dangerous and frightening events.

The depiction of India in the book is highly visual,

many a time evoking my memories of traveling in Mumbai

and other more laid-back regions in India .

Though I don’t quite like the latter part of the book and

found it hard to believe that Rose and Tor would like to befriend a person

as icy as Viva,

and it was rather unconvincing that

as principled as she has always been in her whole life,

Viva will decide to compromise all her believes abruptly at the end,

overall the book is a great holiday read.