Blaise and Mary arrive at Patna Hall, a hotel on India’s shimmering Coromandel coast, to spend part of their honeymoon. Patna Hall is as beautiful and timeless as India itself, ruled over firmly and wise by proprietor Auntie Sanni. For Mary it feels strangely like home. In a week that will change the young couple’s destiny, election fever grips the Southern Indian state and Mary falls under the spell of the people, the country – and Krishnan, godlike candidate for the Root and Flower party . . . ‘A sense of timelessness reminiscent of E.M. Forster . . . social comedy slowly spirals into personal tragedy’ The Times ‘The prose is as simple and luminous as the fantasy it elaborates . . . an interlude of exoticism and sensuous pleasure’ Independent On Sunday ‘Sheer enjoyment’ Guardian ‘The miracle of this book is Godden’s genius for storytelling’ Evening Standard
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Although the plot of the celebrated English novelist ( Black Narcissus ) and memoirist's ( A House with Four Rooms ) latest effort is sadly stale, it is worth reading for its profusion of atmospheric delights. Godden invokes her beloved India in all its colors, creating a hotel by the Coromandel Sea and peopling it with staff and guests, mostly British and American, who enact some nefarious dramas. The benevolent Auntie Sanni, proprietor, watches knowingly as a diplomatic couple on their honeymoon comes to grief, rent by disparate visions of India: what stuffy Blaise sees as sordid, the incandescent Mary finds moving and even transfigurative. To Blaise's chagrin, Mary gets swept up in the local elections, dazzled by a politician whose spirituality changes her forever. Meanwhile, the aloof Olga Manning attends to mysterious proceedings in Calcutta, and a pseudonymous journalist dispatches his spies throughout the area. Adultery, blackmail and mortal tragedy further foment the story line. If the characters conform to stereotypes, they nonetheless quicken through Godden's lightning-fast portraiture and the consummate charm of her setting.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
A week in the life of a luxurious hotel in southern India is the framework for Godden's new novel, set on the lush Coromandel coast. Patna Hall and its staff embody the wisdom and grace of the country, which is clearly beloved by the author. Beautifully drawn characters, rich in complexity, populate this novel, which takes us through a tumultuous marriage of a young British couple, a local political campaign, and assorted human foibles. The Indian characters in particular are portrayed with great dimension and vividness, providing sharp contrast to the rather chilly, oppressive British cast. Indeed, the novel contains layers of contrast between good and evil, seen in the depictions of India and Britain, in the local politics, and in the very essence of human nature. Godden uses dialog skillfully to add subtle texture to her narrative in a treatment that is both unconventional and powerful. Godden fans will be pleased by this novel, her first in seven years. Recommended for large fiction collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/91.
- Margaret Jourdain, Sonoma State Univ., Rohnert Park, Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Margaret Jourdain, Sonoma State Univ., Rohnert Park, Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful story in a fabulous setting,
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This review is from: Coromandel Sea Change: A Novel (Hardcover)
This story is set in Patna Hall, a delightfully old-fashioned hotel on the stunning Coromandel coast in southern India. A local election has filled the hotel with workers for the Root and Flower Party, and the other hotel guests get caught up in the election fever, especially Mary, on her honeymoon, but increasingly fascinated by Krishnan, the Root and Flower candidate. Auntie Sanni, the hotel proprietor is a delightful character, and the rest of the hotel staff are a a fascinating bunch. As election day approaches, anger and jealousy come to the boil as Mary's husband understandably gets more and more fed up about his wife's absorbtion in the election. A gripping story from beginning to end. Warning: do not read this book if you are hungry, there are mouth-watering descriptions of unbearably delicious things to eat throughout the book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful details, sad stereotypes...,
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This review is from: Coromandel Sea Change (Paperback)
Blackmail, love, drama, tragic events and, as always somewhere in the novels I have by Rumer Godden, somebody's death. The India she gives us is so rich, so wonderful, that I doubt it ever existed outside of the papers of her books. But the characters could be out of any hacker's mystery novel. Blaise, the young hot head who thinks his wife should obey his every wish, Mary, his wife who wants to enjoy life, and so on. Lords, Ladies, complaining Americans, an elephant, we get everything you could ever have in India. Funny enough, no Nuns.
Get it used, make some tea, pick a weekday to read it - I had problems reading over a week because I kept wanting to drop everything and go read it.
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