Novel set in India (“Remember Cawnpore!”)

• Book: Belonging
• Location: India, Sussex
• Author: Umi Sinha

Review Author: tripfiction

India: “Everything is so extreme, the heat, the sun, the wild animals and the ever-present smell of death”

An insightful story set in the second half of the 19th century through and beyond the First World War. I knew in smatterings the course of Anglo-Indian relationships during the era of the Raj, but this book transports the reader through some very troubled times, without it being a didactic experience. Knowledge and information are disseminated as the story of three generations of one family begin to unfurl. It was in 1857 that the Crown took over, a sea-change began and gradually India almost began to morph into an outpost of suburban England. A vast country that was beginning to assert its own power, horns were beginning to lock. Set against this explosive background, the seething discontent, colour and human frailties, the book evokes a country and its people as they transition from one epoch to another.

At the beginning of the book there is a family tree, which is helpful just to keep in mind who is related to whom. The story develops through the voices of grandmother Cecily, son Henry and granddaughter Lila and it takes a little while to get into the rhythm, voices and different periods.  The background of the broader history that is playing out reverberates into the lives of the individuals and their families in often unexpected ways. Death stalks their lives, and mental health issues take their toll.

Characters from a variety of ethnic origins and backgrounds are thrown together to in this combustible storyline, interspersed with perceptive research that brings the various periods to vibrant life. How the interiors of the buildings might have felt, how it took three months to travel 900 miles and how violence at The Siege at Cawnpore rippled down through the generations with devastating consequences.

India is contrasted with very different life in Sussex where the strands from that faraway land come to settle. It is here that Lila makes her home with Aunt Mina and wades through the trauma of World War 1, but India – whether memories or the ever present Indian soldiers who fought for the British – is ever present.

This review first appeared on our blog and we also chat to the author about inspiration and research. Click here

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