The Kashmir Shawl - a finely spun yarn

 

            My running 'books of the year' list gets a little longer with the addition of Rosie Thomas's lovely new novel The Kashmir Shawl: lush, romantic fiction at its best, impeccably researched, beautifully put together, a real escapist treat of a book.

    Mair Ellis is clearing her father's house in rural Wales after his death when she comes upon an exquisite antique shawl, handwoven and embroidered, which she had never seen before. With it is a lock of child's hair, but both items had clearly been carefully put away long ago and meant nothing to the youngest generation of Ellises. Mair knew her grandparents had been missionaries in India during the war years, and the shawl appeared to be of that time and place, but was there a greater significance to the keepsakes than as mere souvenirs? Finding herself at a turning point in her own life, Mair resolves to travel in her grandparents' footsteps and see if she can discover the shawl's provenance.

    As her journey takes her over the pass into the Vale of Kashmir and the city of Srinagar with its houseboats, water taxis, and remnants of colonial India, so her story is told alongside that of her grandmother Nerys - her life of self-denial and duty as a missionary's wife, the glamorous friends she makes when a little independence comes her way. What Mair discovers about the past, and what she herself encounters in the present, I cannot of course reveal, but it's all well worth reading.

    I loved the crossing-points between the two strands, the neat symmetry, the compelling search for the shawl's origins, the love stories which are very delicately handled, the drama, and above all the strong sense of place - that's a long list, but the combination is a very successful one. Further, I commend Rosie Thomas's attention to detail, for it reads as though she herself has travelled every inch of the routes she has her characters take, and that authenticity provides a strong framework for the novel. I found it a beguiling book and a thoroughly good read.

Comments

[Jo]

This sounds such a lovely book. The colours on the cover stand out and draw me to it even more.

[Mystica]

Sounds so nice. I love stories set with a colonial past background and this sounds so much like this.

[Pomona]

Further to my previous comment - definitely on my wishlist!

Pomona x