This is an excellent book. For those of us who love exotic settings check this one out. It takes place in India in 1841. The hero has lost an eye and spends part of the book impotent. It's so cool to have a hero who is far from perfect but just scrumptious. I really loved Ian and I think I might be adding him to my list of scarred/imperfect hero favorites. The heroine is also admirable. She's of Russian birth but raised as an Englishwoman and has issues with passion because of her wild and crazy parents. She is the kind of woman a man like Ian needs. She's a true helpmate and a strong woman. They meet when she's trying to protect the camp from a maneating tiger. She almost shoots him in the process. Their relationship develops beautifully as they meet each other's needs. Ian was imprisoned for years and was terribly abused, kept in the dark and starved. His cellmate was Laura's uncle and he asks him to bring his diary which he wrote in his bible. Laura helps Ian to heal from his trauma and Ian helps her to come to terms with her passionate nature. They actually marry because both thinks that they can have a passionless marriage since Ian is incapable and Laura doesn't want passion (although she has a sensual nature that she tries to suppress.) The magic and seduction of India helps Laura to come to terms with who she is. There is a lot about the cultures and religions of India in this book which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am definitely very Christian in my beliefs but it is always interesting to learn about other's beliefs. And India is such a diverse nation with people of so many cultures and beliefs. This is definitely dealt with in this book. This book also gives a different view of the British imperialism that takes place in India. I had a negative view of it overall, but in the book you can see that it had some good aspects. The British rule or Sirkhar actually brought about reforms in areas such as banning child sacrifice and sutee (the ritual burning of widows). They also reformed the tax system that was beggaring the poor because tax barons were taking all their money away. And I also learned that the army was largely composed of native soldiers who were lead by British commanders who were educated in the beliefs and language of their troops. Initially the apartheid system (for lack of a better word) didn't exist. Briton and native blended together and often intermarried and bred freely. But as more British who held prejudiced ideas entered the country, that changed. Never say you cannot learn from romance.This is a great romance but also has plenty of action. Ian is a serious bad-ass. He's a sharpshooter (you might say how does he do it. Well it's explained. Most marksmen shoot with one eye closed). He's a man after my own heart. I love heroes who can get the job done. And he's a Scot. Sigh!!! They actually have to save India from becoming war-torn when a swell of anti-British sentiment from Afghanistan threatens to push over the border. There are reasons that go into this but too indepth for this blog, and you should read the book to find out. It does involve Laura's uncle. I'll tell you that much. There's even a cool secondary romance between Ian's army sargeant, a Pathan warrior, and a young Indian woman who is saved from sutee when her older husband dies. Ooh there's just too much to go into. You need to read it.I can't give everything away but if you love exotic books full of action with awesome characters and a deep, wonderful romance, you should definitely check this one out.
Ian was imprisoned in a lightless pit for two years—when he wasn't being tortured. He's escaped, but he's not all better. He's blind in one eye, and can't sleep because of the horrible nightmares, can't bring himself to eat much. And worse than all that, he's pretty sure the torture left him less than a man. At first, he thinks if he can just get back to his beautiful fiance, everything will be fine. But after he vanished and was declared dead by a government that couldn't be bothered to write a damned letter to save his life, his fiance went and married another guy.The Russian man who shared the pit with him, and was executed in his place, left a bible, with a journal scratched in the margins, and asked Ian to make sure his niece gets it. So, after resigning his commission, he decides to find the woman, who lives in India, before he sails for home. Larissa Alexandrovna, a/k/a Laura, lives with her beloved stepfather, who works for the British civil government of India. He traveled a circuit, hearing local complaints and resolving disputes between villagers. He's just died of cholera when Ian arrives. She doesn't know what she's going to do next. She has no other family and very little in the way of funds. Her stepda had been urging her to marry but that's not the life for her. When she was a tyke, her biodad and mom showed her the darker side of love and passion, and she wants none of it. In fact, after her own experiences showed her that passion was bad, she doesn't like to be touched.Ian knows a good deal when he sees it. Here's a pretty gal—he likes her, and she's easy company, and she doesn't want what he can't offer. So, natch, he proposes, and Laura accepts. And natch, we discover that maybe she secretly wants to be touched after all, and maybe, as his depression lifts, Ian Jr. starts getting a mind of his own. And natch, we go through a lot of angst on both sides because each of them secretly wants something they promised not to ask of the other.The story is saved by the couple's discovery of an inheritance from Laura's uncle, and another legacy that threatens to set India aflame. The intrigue and the daring-do keeps the story moving when the navel-gazing might have been too much for me. 4 stars.
What do You think about Veils Of Silk (2002)?
This is a wholesome winner from Mary Jo Putney. There was a good amount of historical and cultural observations that intertwined with the story. Again, there's a spirituality to this book, as in her other books.Ian reminds me very much of Ashburton from One Perfect Rose-- one of my all time favorites. If Ashburton had been an officer instead of a Duke, I think he would have been Ian. Maybe he's a reincarnation?Really enjoyed the mature and adult conversations between the two. There were some hangups they had to go over but these obviously were traumatizing events in their lives. The side love stories were also a plus and added richness to this universe.The epilogue was also quite satisfying with lots of time to get everything dealt with.
—Karen Wilson
I was very excited to read this because of the great reviews, but almost instantly I started highlighting sections as being extremely tell-don't-show, totally illogical, just... not-good. (Example: heroine, who is an unmarried woman living in India with her civil-service stepfather, who knows she has no income apart from him and no plan for her future, but definitely does not wish to marry and has one of those Historical Romance Heroine "Independent Lady" personalities, is startled to realize that she is left without an income or a plan for her future when he dies. Also she relies totally and completely on the men and servants around her to take care of her - she isn't independent at all. So I felt like I just didn't understand the logic of the world and the characters right off the bat.) Then I realized that I also disliked and DNF, for very similar "wait is everyone just cool with her wearing pants?!? IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE REALISTIC OR NOT?" reasons, a Putney book everyone else loved - The Rake - so this is probably just a bad author-reader match. I should learn my lesson.
—Corduroy
A legkevésbé sikerült rész a trilógiából, de azért nagyon szerethető. Vannak részek, amelyeket kifejezetten kedvelek, Ian például nagyon emberi, de a bűntudatát, amiért ember – gyarló ember – módjára viselkedett, kicsit túlzónak érzem. A lány házasélettől való idegenkedésének okát pedig kifejezetten erőltetettnek. De mivel oly kevéssé ismerem az életet, biztos van ilyen is. :) Nagyon jók a mellékszereplők, Ian öccse azonnal belopja magát az ember szívébe, a tűzhaláltól megmentett özvegy és Zafir egymásra találása szívet melengető, az öröm, hogy Kamalának végül kisfia lesz, vagy hogy Georgiana is megnyugodhat végre… és akkor még nem is beszéltünk a kalandokról, vagy a csodás tájakról, amelyet annyira megszoktunk Putney műveiben, hogy már várjuk… elvárjuk. Hm, ha így végiggondolom, tényleg jó kis könyv ez, ezzel együtt jobbnak találom az első két részt. S még egy apróság – ha már más-más fordítja a trilógia köteteit. legalább a szerkesztő odafigyelhetne – a második kötetben főhőseink Juliet bátyjának kiszabadításának indulnak, ám a férfit annyira megviseli a kétéves kegyetlen fogság, hogy ebben a részben már öccsévé lesz Julietnek.
—Gizella Tóth
