Customer Reviews

A Black Englishman: A Novel

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Mourning the death of her fiance, exhausted by all the suffering caused by World War I, young Isabel Herbert marries in haste and leaves her beloved Wales for India with her new husband, career military man Sergeant Neville Webb. It is 1920. The Raj is on the wane.

When Isabel boards the ship that will take her to another continent, her mother tells her, "You've made your bed now, you'll have to lie on it." A moneyed thoroughbred from a society family in Italy, Isabel's mother married somewhat beneath her, but not by much. Her daughter, on the other hand, looking to escape the terrible sadness of the war's aftermath, hooked-up with a man of pedestrian origins. Neville is "common" in many ways, she will soon learn, unfortunately. Selfish, coarse, a philanderer, he had his own reasons for wanting to get married quickly while on furlough. And Isabel longs to leave the UK and all memories associated with it. She is fleeing from herself and from her lack of wherewithal to begin a life alone.

She could just "howl for the freedom of our youth, our happiness, then, before the war came down on us, so that before you knew it, all that you'd ever known and loved was gone." And, "It (the war) left us broken, unable to go back to where we were, or who we were before, because with all our young men lost and gone, the young girls vanished too."

WWI certainly makes its presence felt here, because if it had not been for that devastating conflict, this extremely bright, independent, university educated young woman of the upper classes would never have married a man like Neville Webb, giving him all power over herself and her future. Fortunately, Isabel's mother thought to set up a private bank account for her daughter in India.

Even before the couple arrives in Ferozepore, Punjab, one of the fourteen provinces of the Raj and their destination, Neville arrogantly attempts to smother all his wife's enthusiasm for the new country, its cultures and languages. "The English people certainly do love India. It's the Indians they can't stand." He is perfectly clear about her adhering strictly to protocol, minding her "p's and q's," no gadding about and no exploring on her own. He also explains he will be gone, with his regiment, the Fifth Royal Gurka Rifles, for almost ten months of the year. There is always trouble on the border with Afghanistan.

Upon the couple's arrival at the cantonment, there is an "unfortunate incident." A British soldier shot and killed his wife and then committed suicide. The woman was having an affair with a native Indian and no one on post appeared surprised at the consequences. Isabel, of course, is shocked, horrified, but the event does not register, apparently. Neville takes off for the border after a few days and his new wife is left to her own devices.

Samresh Singh, an Indian physician educated at the best British schools and graduated, with honors, from Oxford, attends Isabel when she comes down with malaria. Sam, as he is called, is a man of two worlds, and of none. His Hindu lineage is impeccable. He speaks and acts like an English gentleman of the upper classes. Yet he is not Anglo English. He has always been looked down upon by the Brits, patronized by his former schoolmates and by the expatriate community in India. Nor is he an Indian - not after years spent in the UK. And the Indian nationalists look at Sam with disdain. They see him as a traitor to the cause of Independence. Singh is a "Black Englishman."

Isabel and Sam fall deeply in love and share an intellectual, physical and emotional intimacy neither has known before. However, Isabel greatly underestimates her husband's wrath and the extent of his revenge, just as she overestimates her illusory independence as she seeks an identity of her own.

Carolyn Slaughter paints, with beautiful prose, a vivid portrait of India during the last years of the Raj. Along with an accurate depiction of the political unrest of the period, the class system, and the hardships faced by women, both native and European, she gives the reader a wonderful peek at the Indian landscape, especially Northern India, as well as the flavor and color of the local cultures. She seamlessly interweaves the couple's story with historic events. Her characters, especially Isabel, Sam, and an Indian servant, Joseph, are three dimensional, complex and extremely likable.

This is Ms. Slaughter's ninth novel and is based loosely on events in the life of her grandmother, Anne Webb.

Although not in the same league with my favorite Raj fiction, "A Passage To India," The Raj Quartet," and "The Siege of Krishnapur," "A Black Englishman" is still an excellent novel. I enjoyed it immensely. Highly recommended!
JANA

I had high hopes for this novel after reading reviews in PW. The descriptions are lush and sensual, the social observations are on target, and the theme of a taboo Anglo\Indian love was intriguing. Yet for all its attractions Black Englishman remained largely unsatisfying.

Perhaps I've known too many Indians too long to be able to accept the lack of circumspection in much of the action. The main characters seemingly throw themselves into a relationship at a moment's notice. The novel describes their devotion but fails to show how that devotion came about. Reading it, I continually had the impression that the characters were being manipulated by strings, rather than logically nurturing a relationship. I wanted to believe that this Indian man of some social and economic standing and passionate woman would be together, but their quickness to disregard social conventions and hop into the sack strains credibility. Frankly, it takes more than sex to build the sort of passion these people supposedly shared.

When it comes to historical fiction of this sort, I want to be swept away by a believable story. Sadly, Black Englishman isn't it.

Using her maternal grandmother's story for inspiration, Slaughter writes of twenty-three-year old Isabel Webb, who arrives in India with her new husband, Neville, an officer in the colonial British forces. Isabel is entranced by all she sees, the country so unlike her native Wales, bursting with a transcendent beauty that fills her imagination. Isabel's curiosity is hardly slaked by the taciturn English soldier's wives, whose daily existence is one of rigid stratification. She has carelessly chosen marriage to a virtual stranger without much consideration to his character, although she notices Neville's change in demeanor the moment he steps on Indian soil. At home with his implied authority, Neville is of one mind with his fellow soldiers: "The English people certainly do love India. It's the Indians they can't stand." Clearly, Neville is a product of his environment, a native brutality emerging as he prepares for posting, leaving Isabel to her own entertainments. For her part, Isabel assumes her life is her own, of an independent spirit and curiosity that is exceptional for the time and place.

On the day the couple arrives, there is an incident on the post, the disorder swiftly repressed. Isabel is attracted to the physician called to the scene, Samresh Singh, an Indian schooled in Britain, a so-called "black Englishman", a person of two worlds who is tolerated by the English for his skills and discretion. Realizing by now that she has made a terrible mistake in marrying Neville, Isabel is inextricably drawn to Dr. Singh, who is at her bedside when she falls ill. Wrapped in febrile dreams of infidelity, Isabel is grateful for the marriage that brought her to India and Dr. Singh, however ill-informed. Greatly underestimating her husband's wrath at the ensuing scandal, Isabel embarks upon a forbidden love affair with Sam, one that will have terrible consequences for them both. As Isabel's life slips into another dimension, the two meet secretly, embarking upon a commitment that will require all of their strength to survive. British colonialism is drawing to a close with frequent violent episodes, a naked menace rising to the surface, the subjugated population tense with dissatisfaction, on the edge of revolt despite Gandhi's message of nonviolence.

The author skillfully integrates the fated lovers with the confluence of world events, the lush countryside shattered by shocking acts of brutality, the endemic cruelty of British rule, the faceless Indian women controlled by a society that fails to acknowledge them and the poor, who shift with the tides of civilization. Laced with characters both complicated and cruel, this is a compelling portrait of a country in turmoil, the lovers trapped in a rapidly changing political environment, India grown weary of exploitation, English insensitivity and natural hubris. People struggle to survive the explosive tensions of the partition, with the resulting torture of insurgents and slaughter of innocents. Colonial exploitation, virulent ethnic and racial tensions and a movement toward another form of government are tempered by a forbidden love that transcends religion, race and country. Luan Gaines/ 2005.

This is an amazing book--erotic, breath-taking, such a good story about British and Indian relations. Definitely in my top 10 favorite books ever read.

The author's descriptions intice you to see and smell all that is experienced. Thought the protagonist is a little irritating for a while, she develops as you will hope she does.

For anyone who enjoys historical romances, this is definately the book for you. It is set in British India and openly discusses the colour issues of the time. The main character is an Army wife who comes to India but is quickly dis illusioned about her husband. Then she falls in love with an Indian doctor who has been brought up in London. It gives a great insight to the mind set of both sections prevelant in the Raj in India. Worth the read although can be a bit slow at times and it doesnt seem like the author has researched India enough to set the book there. Enjoy it!!