Reviews

What a wonderful piece of work, hugely impressive, enthralling, with broad sweeps, and granular detail. From the business of clothes - don't wear frills they'll be washed off, laundry on ships, throw pants overboard, to getting food on the rackety trains, the fate of ayahs coming to England, abandoned; the endless children, and regular mortality. To the big things, making Simla come alive - the English house Muthesius; to the history, the division of Bengal leading to partition, the not-such-a-bad egg Curzon, the frightful Kitchener. I learnt a lot.

It is very lively and I thoroughly enjoyed it - especially the emphasis on the huge distances when going on tour and the extremes of temperature.

What a wonderful read! I felt transported back in time and place, and was fascinated all through. So vividly written, and so much research that really brings it all to life, I loved the references to the clothes recommended, and the list of servants. I felt I learnt a lot about Indian history. I shall recommend it to my reading friends, it certainly deserves to do well

I enjoyed it and it also had very interesting accounts of the development of attitudes to the Indians among the British in India.

I have now read A Reluctant Memsahib and am even more enthusiastic then when I first browsed it. You have managed a brilliant balance between the pure family history and the contemporary political context. Not an easy task but very well executed.

I only received this book a couple of days ago and am finding it very interesting… I can recommend the book to you all.

Just spent a hugely enjoyable day curled up with Isabel, the reluctant memsahib. I didn't mean to do nothing else but read this Saturday but your excellent book was so fascinating I apparently had no choice!

What a delight - erudite, illuminating and charming. The need to attend/host nightly dinners, balls, dances and entertainments, pack up and move house twice a year and manage endless staff!

So grateful to discover a little more about the history of that period - something I was shamefully ignorant about. You interweave the domestic and the political so skilfully.

The amount of work, reading, painstaking research and love you have put into this project is very evident and has really paid off. It's a proper good read.