The Tea Planter's Bride by Janet Macleod Trotter

Sophie has only very vague memories of her mother and father. She knows she was born and brought up in India till the age of six and her parents died of dysentery. This is what she was told. She was brought up by her aunt who loved her dearly but now Sophie's life is at a crossworld.

The year is 1922 and Sophie and her beloved cousin are looking for love. Both of them find it in very different ways but strangely they do end up together back in India. Tilly not very happy to return but for Sophie it was like coming home. Having to get accustomed to marriage and two men who were not what they seemed to be like when they were in England is part of the difficulty. Tilly is now heavily pregnant but for Sophie there are many hidden facets to her husband which is discovering, and none of them are very pleasant to know.

At the same time there are cross currents despite Sophie being very much in love with her husband. Her attraction for the forester Raafi is very strong and one she feels she has to fight against as it is morally not right to even feel like this. Tilly is trying to cope with a new born on the other side and also deal with her husband's aversion to the Robson's who have looked after Tilly so very well all this time. Secrets on her husband's side also disturb Tilly who is also questioning many aspects of her husband's solitary life in India.

So many strands coming together, keep the story alive as you know that something different but connected to either Sophie or Tilly is going to turn up on every page. How they all inter-connect and bring closure to several issues in Sophie's life particularly is very descriptively told.

Again like her previous book, the characterization is spot on and adds so much dimension to the story.

Sent to me by Netgalley for an unbiased review, courtesy of Lake Union Publishing.'