East of the Sun: A Novel and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.

Used - Acceptable | See details
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Start reading East of the Sun: A Novel on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Color:
Image not available

To view this video download Flash Player

 

East of the Sun: A Novel [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Julia Gregson
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (92 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


This is a bargain book and quantities are limited. Bargain books are new but could include a small mark from the publisher and an Amazon.com price sticker identifying them as such. See details.

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $10.38  
Hardcover --  
Paperback $12.80  
Paperback, Bargain Price, June 2, 2009 --  
Audio, CD --  
Unknown Binding --  
Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged $40.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial
Summer Reading
Summer Reading
Browse the best books of summer including blockbusters, beach reads, and editors' picks in our Summer Reading Store.

Book Description

June 2, 2009
As the Kaisar-i-Hind weighs anchor for Bombay in the autumn of 1928, its passengers ponder their fate in a distant land. They are part of the "Fishing Fleet" -- the name given to the legions of Englishwomen who sail to India each year in search of husbands, heedless of the life that awaits them. The inexperienced chaperone Viva Holloway has been entrusted to watch over three unsettling charges. There's Rose, as beautiful as she is naïve, who plans to marry a cavalry officer she has met a mere handful of times. Her bridesmaid, Victoria, is hell-bent on losing her virginity en route before finding a husband of her own. And shadowing them all is the malevolent presence of a disturbed schoolboy named Guy Glover.

From the parties of the wealthy Bombay socialites to the poverty of Tamarind Street, from the sooty streets of London to the genteel conversation of the Bombay Yacht Club, East of the Sun is graced with lavish detail and a penetrating sensitivity -- historical fiction at its greatest.


Special Offers and Product Promotions



Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British author Gregson bows in America with her fast-paced second novel, an absorbing international period drama concerning three young Englishwomen and a troubled boy journeying to India in the late 1920s. The eldest at 25, Viva Holloway is an orphan hoping to retrieve her lost parents' personal effects; she's paying her way by chaperoning three younger travelers. Rose Wetherby is going to India to be married; Victoria Tor Sowerby is Rose's bridesmaid; and 16-year-old Guy Glover is returning home after getting expelled from school for stealing. Throughout, narrative shifts reveal the travelers' perspectives and fears: Viva is haunted by a childhood and family she barely remembers; Rose is growing increasingly nervous about how little she knows of her fiancé; and Tor is eager, after a disappointing deb season in London, to find a husband of her own and avoid returning to England. Guy's strange behavior makes it clear he's unstable, and before long, he's assaulted a member of a powerful Indian family, setting off a frightening chain of events for both himself and Viva. Gregson's rich imagery, strong characters and gripping plot make this a resonant page-turner. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"I always wish for books like this, but they are rare -- a beautifully written, compelling saga that is impossible to put down. It's about ambition, love, survival, and the friendship of three women who leave England for the exotic and sometimes frightening adventure of India. Reading this is an escape to another place and time where friends and romance are waiting." -- Delia Ephron

"I felt like I'd packed a steamer trunk and was part of the group going out to India. What a gorgeous read. Exciting, romantic, unpredictable, and funny. I didn't want it to end." -- Tracey Ullman

“This is the kind of book I always hope to find…When I got to page 3, I wrote in my notes, ‘I may fall in love with this book.’ And I did.” – [Richmond] Record-Courier

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 608 pages
  • Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (June 2, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1439101124
  • ASIN: B003A02WLW
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (92 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #246,598 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

I thought the characters and setting were very well developed. Fuji  |  20 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
East of the Sun is the story of warm, steamy, conflicted India through the eyes of three young Englishwomen. In 1928, Viva, Rose and Tor journey from England aboard a P&O steamer as what was colloquially known as the "Fishing Fleet"--that is, the young English ladies who went to India to catch a husband. With vivid, gorgeous prose, Gregson weaves a heartbreaking and suspenseful tale of love, politics and gender.

Viva, the elder of the trio, is haunted by her lost family, Rose, the beautiful sunny creature who has made a match with a stranger, and Tor, who has the wrong body shape for the 1920s and suffers from a critical mother, each struggle to find their place in the world, to find who they are as women, and to understand what it is life wants from them. This journey is painful--physically and mentally. The knowledge each woman must face is not sugar-coated, nor are the ending wrapped up in neat little packages.

Their journey is told against the backdrop of the Raj's last gasps for breath. Gandhi has become influential in India, and his nonviolent demonstrations and the conflict between white and brown, Muslim and Hindu, is frightening in its intensity. The questions raised in the book remain unanswered to this day, particularly the effects of the Raj on both the Indians and the British. Vivi in particular is caught in this maelstrom due first to a mentally-disturbed ex-charge, and secondly to her discovery of the multitude of abandoned and homeless Indian children.

Gregson packs a lot into this story: the every day lives of sahibs and memsahibs, the social pecking order, the restlessness of young women freed from pre-WWI constraints, and so on, but it is done so wonderfully that the pages fly by quickly.
... Read more ›
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable picture of colonia India May 10, 2009
Format:Paperback
I have to admit, I picked up East of the Sun from Amazon UK on a sort of blind buy. It was recommended to me because I purchased The Forgotten Garden. Well, one thing turned into another late one night... and all of a sudden I found myself clicking "proceed to checkout." You know how it is.

I actually rather glad I made this impulse purchase. Set in 1928 and 1929, East of the Sun is the story of three women who go to India: Rose, a young woman going to get married; her best friend Tor, going to be her bridesmaid and hopeful that she'll find a husband herself; and Viva, a young woman accompanying them on their voyage in order to reclaim a trunk that once belonged to her parents. Also in her care is Guy Glover, an unstable sixteen-year-old, who's just been kicked out of boarding school and who quickly becomes a risk to Viva and her charges.

Once the women get to India, nothing is what they expected it to be. Rose's marriage is hardly a bed of roses; and, although the number of English men in India overwhelms the number of women, Tor can't quite get her act together in order to find a husband. As for Viva, her plans to pick up her trunk and leave India derail pretty quickly as Guy Glover's antics get out of hand.

The novel is not so much about India as it is about the British in India and the so-called "fishing fleet" of young women who went there to find husbands. The first third of the book is devoted to the voyage out to India (in first class) on the Kaiser-i-Hind, and I thought that part of the book was particularly engaging. The characters are all finely drawn, and I found myself rooting for each of them. It's a very lively and dramatic book, and I couldn't put it down.
... Read more ›
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Gritty and Down to Earth Historical Romance June 21, 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
East of the Sun is a story, essentially, about 3 women, set in British occupied India. Viva, the chaperone with some hefty personal baggage, takes on the task of escorting Victoria (Tor) and Rose, along with a young man named Guy Glover, to Bombay, India. Rose will be marrying a man she barely knows, Tor will be her bride's maid and stay on to participate in the social season to try and win a husband, and Guy is returning to his parents after 10 years away in boarding school in England. Viva is returning to India to reconnect with her past and find freedom as an independent writer.

The characters are vivid and well developed. Each of their stories is told in well metered detail that keeps the reader wanting more as things progress. Viva's story, in particular, is the most cryptic with answers to her personal issues coming only at the end of the book.

I love books about India and this one does not disappoint. The descriptions of the Indian people, countryside and the stifling summer heat are detailed enough to create atmosphere, but not enough to bore. While the story is entirely character focused, there is enough of India in it to make it interesting and exotic.

I also love historical fiction, even though I'm not a history academic. It seems that the author had done enough research to make the history and the story flow together seamlessly.

What I don't love is romance. However, while this book qualifies as a romance, I didn't see it that way. It's more gritty and less emotional than most romances. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of emotion in the story, but the emotions are more down to earth and realistic than other romances I've trudged through.
... Read more ›
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book!
It was a romantic but not a totally unrealistic love story. It has very rich scenery and characters. Read more
Published 1 month ago by seattlesissy
4.0 out of 5 stars East of the Sun: A Novel by Julia Gregson
This story covers the lives of several young people who are on the greatest adventure of their lives -- maturing in ways they never expected. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Peggy A Williams
4.0 out of 5 stars Almost a beach read
In 1929, much had changed in the world of the British aristocracy. Old families of wealth, were now not so rich, and their daughters were getting more and more difficult to marry... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Suzanne Dobbins
3.0 out of 5 stars East of the Sun could have been great, but it fell short
I wanted to love East of the Sun because I am fascinated by the British Raj era and love novels set in that time period, but this book just fell short for me. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, romance novel
East of the sun is a romantical version of Bombay (Mumbai), at the turn of India's independence from British rule. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Kristin Arychuk
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly Enjoyable
This book was thoroughly enjoyable! An interesting look at India under British rule in 1930.
The story of three young women going to live in India kept my interest all the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Memory Maker
5.0 out of 5 stars East of the Sun
I enjoyed learning about India in the 1920's. The characters were well developed and the story of their lives and relationships were engrossing. Loved it!
Published 4 months ago by Susanne McKelvey
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book
It takes a little while to get going but once you get into it this book really transports you. I enjoyed it.
Published 5 months ago by Amber L Davies
5.0 out of 5 stars book enders
I found this book to be good and worthwhile reading read. All members of our book club liked it and it evoked easy discussion
Published 7 months ago by bea
5.0 out of 5 stars A deliciously conceived page-turner
If a leisurely vacation is in your future, plan on taking a copy of Julia Gregson's always lavish, frequently funny, and historically intriguing novel of three young British women,... Read more
Published 8 months ago by S. Fishburn
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Forums

There are no discussions about this product yet.
Be the first to discuss this product with the community.
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category