Olivia and Jai [Hardcover]

Rebecca Ryman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1990

A first novel set in mid-19th-century colonial Calcutta, by an author who was born and lives in India. It tells of a tormented romance between a spirited young Englishwoman and a mysterious, ruthless half-caste, the bastard son of an unknown Englishman and an Indian girl from the hills.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set against an exotic background complete with a tiger hunt and the opium trade of 19th-century India, a tragedy of surprising scope is played out here. In the center is pseudonymous Ryman's heroine, freethinking American Olivia O'Rourke, who comes to Calcutta's "village of palaces" to visit her relatives Sir Joshua and Lady Bridget Templewood. Her radiant innocence proves out of place in the stiflingly proper atmosphere, and from the moment her path crosses that of the enigmatic Eurasian Jai Raventhorne she is caught up in an obsessive affair, with only her formidable intelligence and courage enabling her to endure Jai's savage betrayal of herself, her aunt and her uncle. Yet her romantic ordeal transforms Olivia into as ruthless an adversary as the man to whom she gave her love and trust, and out of the ill-fated choices she must make a great cynicism is forged. Beneath the propriety of the staid expatriate British community in Calcutta fester secrets of unspeakable defilements, and Ryman, a spellbinding storyteller, captivates the reader from the first page. 75,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild/Doubleday Book Club alternate.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Set in 1840s India, this tale of star-crossed lovers packs a powerful punch. When Olivia, a forthright young American, comes to live with her very proper British relatives, she falls headlong into love with angry, half-caste Jai. Olivia believes nothing will ever diminish her love for Jai, but can it withstand the terrible revenge he is planning to take on the people who betrayed him? Ryman has done a good job of portraying the closed, rigidly stratified colonial society; against this background her vibrant, passionate main characters compel attention. Occasional lapses into overheated prose are disconcerting but don't impede the story's flow. Suspense, exotic locales, and strong-willed lovers make this novel a treat for romance readers. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternate selections. --Beth Ann Mills, New Rochelle P.L., N.Y.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 644 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (August 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312041462
• ISBN-13: 978-0312041465
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,042,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a heart-stopping favorite, June 7, 2001

By 

"joya_banerjee" (Boston, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Olivia and Jai (Paperback)

I had to take three days off from school a couple years ago, just so i could finish this book. I'm an avid reader, but I usually only get to half an hour a night. With Olivia and Jai, after half an hour, I told myself, just another chapter. An hour later, I decided I didn't really need to go to school the next day. Three days later, done with the book and filled with a brand new, completely romantic schemata that hasn't left me to this day, I was done with the greatest work of fiction I have ever encountered. Olivia and Jai combined an intricately constructed romance with a superb mystery and wonderfully accurate history. It can be read as a pure work of fiction but also a cultural commentary on British Imperialism. The first time I read the novel I didn't realize that Rebecca Ryman is actually a pen name for an Indian Woman. I read it again with this in mind and caught a thousand nuances and subtleties about the colonial mind that I had missed before. This novel began my captivation with colonial works. Through Kipling, Forester, Toer, Seth, Hall, and Said, I still find Olivia and Jai the most enthralling story of colonial life- its pleasures and malfeasances together in reality. Nowadays, I only fall for the Jai type. What a brooding, intriguing, volatile, magnetic character! Olivia devotes her life to understanding Jai. I think I'm devoting my life to finding myself a Jai! I definitely can't figure out why this book went out of print I've read this book six times in four years, and I even xeroxed copies of all 600 something pages for my friends and english teachers. This is the best of all Ryman's novels, though A Veil of Illusion and Shalimar are lovely works as well. Olivia and Jai is most certainly a must read.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb historical love story fiction, April 9, 2005

By 

E. V. Holland (Munich, Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Olivia and Jai (Hardcover)

I can't say enough about this book. It is one of my absolute favorites. My favorite historical fictions alway seem set in India. I call it a love story because one of the central themes is love but its not very "romancy." This novel is set in 1848, prior to the Sepoy Mutiny. Olivia is an American girl sent to Calcutta for 1 year in the hopes of her Aunt to find a proper husband. Of course, Olivia being a brash American is not at all interested in that but in the India that none of the English want to know.

She meets the engimatic Jai Raventhorne, who is of mixed blood, an "Eurasian". He has pulled himself out of the gutter to become a wealthy, yet bitter, businessman. She soon falls in love while secretly meeting him. I don't think I'll give much away by saying there is a huge betrayal that sets the tone for the rest of the book. Revenge is probably an even more important theme than romance.

The book is one that you don't want to end. You really fall for the characters. The book does have a sequel, "Veil of Illusion" which is good (because you love the characters so much) but not nearly as good as "olivia and Jai."

If you like this type of book, my other absolute favorites in the Indian historical fiction that are first rate include "Zemindar" by Valerie Fitzgerald and "Shadow of the Moon" by M.M. Kaye. Those do revolve around the Sepoy Mutiny of the late 1850s.

Rebecca Ryman is a penname for someone who has been born, raised, and lives in India. The background touches really make India come alive for me.

Highly recommend this book!!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Olivia and Jai, October 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Olivia and Jai (Hardcover)

Not quite the romantic but an avid reader of anything historical I picked up this book just two days ago and has not set it down until I read the last page aching for more. Rebecca Ryman has written the novel in such a way that you cannot but imagine yourself in that era. With characters so believable and detailed you get to know them, grow with them and find it hard to leave them. You cannot but try to compare youself to Olivia and to want a Jai(Jeye - is the Indian pronounciation)in your life.
This love story will be hard to top.