Customer Reviews

Not Yet Drown'd: A Novel

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is slow. It presents lots of different, interesting, and unique information on a variety of different subjects that were of interest in the 1800's. The author obviously spent lots of time researching and adding these fine little details into the story at appropriate places. The story itself was well written and ended just as well. But it took forever to get to that end. The author just kept the book interesting enough to go on to the next chapter. I almost gave up on it several times, but decided to push on through. That's the only downside of the book and why I only give it three stars. It was just slow and added almost too much information in such a short book to give it the credit others reviewers have.

In 1822, newly-widowed Catherine MacDonald is settling with her stepdaughter, Grace, into her brother, Hector's Edinburgh home. Recovering from the accidental death of her husband, Catherine is also grieving for her twin brother, Sandy, drowned in the Indian monsoons of 1821. An accomplished bagpipe musician, Sandy's true calling was the cultivation of tea, her sibling convinced that tea could be grown not only in China, but in India. Unfortunately, Sandy runs afoul of his employers, the East India Company, and is assigned to the opium fields shortly before his death in the monsoon season. When Catherine receives a package, the address penned in her twin's hand, she begins to wonder why the body was never found and whether her brother could still be alive. The package contains a Kashmiri shawl, a sheaf of handwritten music for bagpipes, including one titled "Not Yet Drown'd" and an ornate box filled with what appears to be tea leaves.

Before Catherine can pursue her thoughts about Sandy's fate, more serious events transpire that threaten her security and that of eight-year-old Grace. Having traveled all the way from America, a woman arrives on Hector's doorstep announcing her intention to deliver the child to blood relatives in Virginia. Catherine refuses, unleashing the stranger's wrath and a promise to return with the assistance of the law. Although Catherine prepares to flee, she seriously underestimates the perseverance of this woman, who manages a great coup, plucking the hapless Grace from the family. There ensues a dramatic chase and attempted rescue, Catherine suddenly on board ship with her brother, Hector, bound for India, where he intends to test the innovations he has made to the current methods of steamship travel. And Catherine isn't alone. Besides a trembling Grace, Catherine has added two more women to her party, the slave who accompanied the lady from Virginia and an enigmatic Indian maid, who has been trying to gain passage to India for her own reasons.

One could get lost in the modernization of steamship design or the complicated pages of bagpipe music that Catherine diligently copies to send back to her sister-in-law in Edinburgh, or even the day to day trials of life aboard ship. But the real drama of this novel is Catherine's journey to the interior of India in search of information about her brother's fate, the romance she does her best to sabotage and the gradual unfolding of the ayah's shocking story, filled with tales of ritual and tradition and a great love gone astray. India is the jewel of this crown, all events conspiring to focus on a country still in the throes of Britain's imperialist agenda, the pampered English oblivious to the lives of those around them, save the administration of their creature comforts. Yet somehow Catherine manages to overcome every obstacle with the help of her Indian maid-turned-confidant, their friendship blooming as the weeks pass. From fog-shrouded Scotland to the dense jungles of India, the intricacies of tea plantations and steamboat races, Catherine has the adventure of a lifetime, her grieving heart restored by an awakening love and the restoration of all she holds dear. Luan Gaines/2007.

When one of my fellow book club members told me that everyone in the club was struggling with reading this book, I was kind of alarmed. I had too many other books piled up and I didn't want to be stuck with a dud of a book.

To my relief, it is one of the better fiction that I've read this year. It helped that I had a big chunk of time to devote to it since it is a slower-paced book, but it is so fascinating. It is so luxurious and tasteful. It is a long smooth ride into the past ... traveling from Scotland to India on a steam ship. It is informative about tea, a twin's longing to see her brother, a wife who misses her husband and more. It is just a sublime book ... much to my surprise. I did thought that the descriptions of the steam ship would be so boring, but it wasn't. Everything moved so smoothly, so freshly and so wonderfully. It was like a vacation of the mind.

The book is about Catherine who had received a message from her twin, Sandy, who was presumed drowned the year before in the monsoons of India. Catherine had just endured her own grieving of losing her beloved husband and raising her stepdaughter when the message came in a cryptic form of a song. Forced to leave Scotland in order to keep her stepdaughter, Gracie, she decided to go to India to see if Sandy was still alive. Accompanied by her older brother, Hector, who was also the designer of the steamboats, his partner Fleming, several other characters, a Hindu maiden and a runaway American slave. Their stories all entwined with Catherine's story ... no matter how small or large their stories were, they were just as interesting as Catherine's story.

As a reader, I was there along for the ride ... feeling the cool breeze on my back as the ship heads south to the equator ... to seeing the elephants walking in the Indian jungles. The writing is very lyrical, almost with a native beat to it. It is descriptive and very informative. It is chock full of information, just like as if I'm there, listening to the captains or Hector describing how the ship runs. It can be boring ... but Kingman made it very interesting. That is a rare talent indeed, to take something as dull as engineering and make it into a wonderful idea ... and get the reader excited about it. What a great novel!

This is a perfect novel for book clubs and avid historical fiction readers too. There is so much in this book to discuss and to mull over ... that one just need to take it all in. However, this book will lure you away from your chores and jobs because it is just a fascinating read ... so you've been warned.

5/24/09

A fascinating and compelling read. Great characters. Superb writing. Tremendous cultural and historical detail. This book deserves a large and enthusiastic readership.

Are you craving exquisitely crafted language, erudition, mystery and adventure; beautifully drawn characters that are completely engaging? This is the book for you. By turns it is wise, funny, thrilling and learned. I highly recommend it.

This is a work of fiction that gets its facts right--you can learn a lot from it. I was drawn into the story and found it hard to put the book down. I enjoyed traveling with the main character through Scotland, India and back in time.

Richly detailed in historical color, takes you on journeys and adventures from Scotland to India and in between. Not only do you finish the story feeling like you have traveled around the world, but you enjoy learning about 19th Century history, art, politics, economics, different cultures, love and of course, tea!

This book had a unique style that really drew me in. The story was engaging and the broad subject matter--ancient Scottish bagpipe music, botany, geography and history (Scotland and India)-- was interesting. I was rooting for the main character and cared about what happened to her.

Thanks to the author for offering a very entertaining and thought-provoking book. At $3.01 it is far superior to some of the Kindle books selling for $9.99 and higher.

I would have awarded the book 4 stars if not for some of the overly detailed passages that caused me to take breaks from the book because I wanted the characters' adventures to continue. All in all it was well worth the read.

This is the best book I've read in awhile. The story has a lot of depth and subplots. Amazingly written. I can't wait to read Peg Kingman's next book.