THE LAST MUGHAL by WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Dalrymple is a favourite author of mine so I was very happy when a friend of mine from Australia gifted me this book in August this year. Why it took me so long to read it is a puzzle. I started it and found it very slow going, put it aside and came back to it this last week.

The story which is self explanatory is about Zafar - the last of the great Mughal rulers who ruled India for nearly 350 years and the way the dynasty ended - in banishment, penury and senility with the Emperor not being given any status or position as befitted his stature. Zafar was the last in a long line of very eminent Mughals - Genghis Khan and Timur the Great being the two most well known. For much of British history in India this last Mughal was insignificant. He was a weak emperor ruled and influenced very much by others who surrounded him. He seemed indecisive and could not be seen to act independently. He also never wanted to take on the responsibility of what he started and all the time said that it was in the hands of God, specially when things turned disastrous.

This story is set in old Delhi which was the pivot of the Mughal dynasty of the time. In the Emperor's time the Muslims and Hindus lived in harmony, the Emperor himself had a mother who was Hindu and he was very tolerant of Hindu rituals and customs both within and outside his own home. Although by now a vassal of the British, he lived a life of considerable ease, not imposed on by the Britons or anyone else. The tension arose with the rise of fundamentalism amongst the Islamic ulema or clergy who saw the disintegration of Islam, the rise of Hindu influence going step by step with total British control and more importantly, what they perceived the conversion of Muslims and Hindus to the Christian faith.  The destruction of Delhi and the Mughal dynasty were linked to the war which arose between the Muslims and the British rulers.

The callous murder of English men, women and children, the murder of Christian converts, the widespread looting that followed with no sense of justice and fairplay on both sides was horrific. The British murdered everyone in their path in a move which they saw would wipe the slate clean. For some officers in the Army it seemed to be a game of who could kill the most. Even those people who had given safe haven to fleeing English women and their families were not spared. They were killed merely for being Indian.

On the other hand the sepoys who ran berserk killed any Englishman or convert who crossed their path. The stories of rape were just stories and unlike other pictures of war, Englishwomen were not raped but the story was not the same when it came to the English army.

The violence depicted in this story is brutal and it was for me an eye opener. I had read of British atrocities in India when India was a colony but I never imagined anything on this scale in the 1800s. Detailed descriptions of the flight of English families who had lived in India for 30 or 40 years and who considered Delhi home was so sad, the loyalty of servants was incredible despite personal danger many did not leave their masters and were subsequently punished for it, and I especially liked the detailed footnotes which gave little snippets of information so very vital to the whole story.

Dalrymple was excelled himself once again.

Book reading and reviewing has taken a back seat this last week with a heavy workload. The Christmas gifts are still not finished and beginning to take on the look of a nightmare now as it has all got to be packed and ready by the 30th of this month. I have however been determined this year to become a little Christmassy around my own home (for the last three year I have not even put up the
tree. This year this is hopefully going to change!).

WHAT CAME BEFORE HE SHOT HER by ELIZABETH GEORGE

Elizabeth George never disappoints. This one was totally different to all the other books of hers I have read. No Inspector Lynley other than in the dramatically, explosive and horrifying end. The moors reminiscent of many of her books, the quiet countryside all left far behind for a inner city full of squalor, fisticuffs, gang warfare and more.

Ness, Joel and Tobe are abandoned by their grandmother who is deported to Jamaica. Their mother is in a psychiatric unit and their father was killed in a shooting incident. The children have learned not to depend on any adult - no adult has won their trust or confidence and it was heartbreaking to read of how each child coped or rather tried to cope on their own, with sheer bravado and non chalance and a stiff upper lip maintained throughout. The concept of saving face was I thought an Asian idea and here I was totally fazed to see that it is very much part of the story here. Whatever you do, you must not let the other side know the inner workings of family, the skeletons in the closet, who is doing what with whom. These must always be strictly maintained with a curtain drawn over the whole unsavory business so that we continue to maintain a facade of gentility and family unity when the actual fact is actually blood curdling devastation.

The children end up with their aunt Kendra who has no skills in parenting but who feels she must love them  as they are family and they are all she has and vice versa. Trying to bring up a young teenager in this block of flats would be a nightmare for anyone let alone an aunt suddenly thrust with a defiant, sexually active, street smart, foul mouthed niece who feels she must rant, rave and steal if she wants to maintain her position in the world she moves in. We next have Joel , a level headed twelve year old who has his disabled brother as part of his responsibility and knows that this is something that he can never let go.

How circumstances force the entire family of three into a spiral of despair, truancy, robbery, blackmail and murder at the end is how this story comes about. From the opening line of the book we know that the end is not going to be pretty or even one where a murder is very cleanly solved. You know this is going to be a sordid story and sordid it is.

The author keeps you rivetted and I read it through till 4.30 am (and now being unable to keep up in office!). I was alternately horrified, angry, disbelieving that a situation like this can exist but then I have no idea of how a ghetto of this kind operates. My knowledge of gangs is restricted to books only and I was stupefied that twelve year olds could be influenced to behave in the manner that they did. Nothing was beyond them and what one of these characters would do in their twenties (if they live to tell the tale) would be worthy of another book.

There is no systematic looking for clues and interrogation of suspects in the story as the book deals with the very story of how the situation of the "shooting" comes about. As a result it is a story of the life of three sad children who through circumstances only of birth come to the end that they do. The slick investigation of Elizabeth George's novels through the suave Lynley, Havers and Nkata are only brought in at the very, very end and even then it is only Havers and Nkata. Lynley is just a name mentioned.

Strong stuff here but very good reading.

MAILBOX MONDAY/IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

 

Mailbox Monday hosted for November by Bermudaonion.

 

Only one book came to my house this week given by a friend -  this Daphne du Maurier is unknown to me so I was delighted to receive this.

 

The next meme for Monday is It'sMonday! What Are You Reading hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

 

 

I have several reads going on at once. An Elizabeth George totally different from the rambling English countryside or a bleak moor setting but an urban sprawl complete with squats, squalor and all and the Julian Rathbone from last week which is slow reading but which I am hopeful of finishng one of these days.

 

Going back to my children's Christmas shopping, today was another marathon - six of them wanted dolls, three wanted doctor sets, one wanted a bead jewellery set and three wanted specifically Winnie the Pooh teddy bears. Got it all except the latter. Now have to look for them plus thirteen of them still have no special dresses for Christmas. Somehow I couldn't find clothes for the 12 to 14 year olds.

SLAMMERKIN by EMMA DONOGHUE

Set in the 1700's we start with Mary in prison. We then work backwards as to how she got there and that is how the story originates. So we start knowing almost all -  because we know also that getting into prison is easy and getting out of it in those times was almost impossible and that probably either our Mary will be hanging on a gibbet or sent out to the Americas. A bleak prospect either way.

Mary is very young, living with her mother, step father and baby brother when she is thrown out of the family home for getting pregnant.  With no money and no home, she ends up with a sympathetic prostitute Doll who takes her in, nurtures her back to health (Mary has suffered a complete breakdown by now) and also Doll introduces her to prostitution and the world of prostitutes in London.

For me the description of London from Doll's and Mary's point of view was an eye opener. The rampant poverty, the sheer struggle to survive against all odds, each man for himself only but despite this Doll looks out for Mary and the two become very close, definitely close friends almost family.
From the start we see how Mary's life is determined by poor choices and circumstance. Mary always wants something better and is determined to get it. She is not happy with the philosophy of her mother of being content with your lot and of knowing your place in society. She yearns for what she does not have and wants to get it by whatever means possible. She thinks it is unfair that someone has position and power just because the person was born into a position of such. This is what leads to Mary's gradual downfall.

It was a difficult thing to read because you knew that Mary's ambition was not going to get her anywhere. I would have been satisfied after the long trek to Monmouth to be taken in by the Jones's family and to be taught a trade and also earn your independence but Mary was not me. She wanted it all. This was a girl born into the wrong century - born two centuries later Mary could have got what she wanted through her determination and spirit and hard work. In the eighteenth century this was just not possible.

An interesting read definitely though very slightly depressing!
 

DEAR FATTY by DAWN FRENCH

 

 

My only knowledge of Dawn French stems from The Vicar of Dibley which I found to be hilarious, irreverent and absolutely funny.

 

This memoir starts from the time of her being part of  a RAF family and the warm family atmosphere she grew in to her growing up, becoming a teacher of drama and then moving on to her career in comedy. The memoir in a series of letters to friends and family, especially those to her Dad shows how much she misses her Dad (who committed suicide when she was nineteen). Reading about her in various articles made it known to me that she has since left her husband so those letters in the book addressed to Len are particularly poignant.

 

A very frank and self critical look at herself this book is an honest look by Dawn French at Dawn French. A little more information about the Vicar of Dibley series would have been nice (for me!).

A very nice memoir.

 

Going back to the shopping, yesterday was full on!!!! Sixteen different salwar kameez sets, five sets of blouses and skirts and for one girl a dress! ordered 35 pairs of sandals which will come in by the 1st - and now for the little ones black patent leather shoes to go to church!

SHORT REVIEW! MERCY by JUSSI ADLER OLSEN

 

This was a win from Judith at Leeswammes.

 

The book was a very cold and clinical read. I just wanted it to end as quickly as possible hoping that the end would make it all worthwhile (which it did).

 

Someone is kidnapped and held for a number of years in a sealed compartment and the inhuman treatment meted out is breathtakingly brutal. I was very uncomfortable reading the story but it does keep you rivetted as one does want to know the outcome.

 

A new type of genre for me - murder and kidnapping in another form.

 

Started on an Elizabeth George and a Emma Donoghue book. Both murders and mysteries and a fair amount of intrigue and gore but somehow different.

IN THE WOODS by TANA FRENCH

This is a book that you have to read in one go. It was an excellent read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Adam is a detective in the Irish Police force. As a young child he was part of a tragic incident in which two of his best friends simply disappeared. Due to the trauma Adam could not recall what actually happened and todate the case remains unresolved. Adam has also changed his name to Rob.
Fast forward to the present day and Adam and his partner detective Cassie find themselves on a case where a 12 year old has been found murdered in the same woods where Adam's friends disappeared so long ago.

Is there a link between the cases? who would want to murder Katy and the manner in which the murder is done and the sexual abuse of the body leaves a lot of questions. The Devlin family in itself are peculiar - the father heavily involved in a move to prevent a motorway coming through the wood leading to the question whether property developers were sending a sign to him to lay off, the mother Margaret vague and spacey - could she have caused Katy's severe gastric illnesses deliberately, the elder sister Rosalind - having secrets of her own and Jessie Katy's twin, not quite right but no one actually says so.

We also have running parallel to the story the story of Cassie and Adam - best friends in the most platonic way and Sam who is added to the mix as a detective who can help. How the relationship changes from being platonic to one which is not so and how it effects their working relationship so badly - to the extent that it seems that they cannot even work together. It spoiled it for all of them.

The solving of the murder was for me a surprise. It is always good when you can never solve it yourself till the end when all is revealed.  The breakdown of the relationship between Cassie and Adam was sad, specially when you considered how good it was before. I think Cassie is strong enough to be a repeat character in another book - someone like Lynley in the P D James's books or Miss. Marple in the Agatha Christie series.

On a non book note, today hopefully I can start on the Christmas gifts for the fifty children in the two Homes I help out at. Detailed lists of what each one wants has been given - I certainly like that children have individual ideas on what suits them. I hate the idea of institutionalized sameness!  Hopefully I can find everything to suit all.