Customer Reviews

Shadow of the Moon

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This is a superlative work of beautifully written, well-researched historical fiction by the author of the best selling, sweeping epic, "The Far Pavilions". The author was born in India, where she lived most of her life. Her love of that country is evident in her loving, descriptive passages of the land of her birth. Her assessment of Anglo-Indian relations during the time of the British Raj is infused in the characters of her spellbinding novel. With exotic, mid-nineteenth century India as a backdrop for most of this engrossing story, the reader is swept away by its beautifully descriptive narrative. It is in India that the fate of a beautiful, young, Anglo-Spaniard heiress with the improbable name of Winter Ballasteros and that of Captain Alex Randall, a commissioned officer with the East India Company, are irrevocably intertwined.

Born in India and orphaned at an early age, Winter is brought up in England but is always longing for the land of her birth. The opportunity to return home to India presents itself when she is betrothed at a tender age to the debauched Conway Barton, the grasping Commissioner of Lunjore, who is many years her senior. Captain Randall, who is sent by the Commissioner to escort his betrothed to India, is loathe to do so, knowing the Commissioner to be no fit husband for a seventeen year old girl, Moreover, Captain Randall is keenly sensitive to the potentially dangerous feelings of unrest that seem to be sweeping India, as its native population begins to chafe under the insensitive rule of its colonial masters.

Once in India and against a backdrop of native unrest, Winter and Captain Randall slowly begin to develop a relationship. When the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 occurs, Winter and Captain Randall are thrown together. They discover that they must struggle to survive the madness and bloodlust that is all around them, as they witness atrocities beyond comprehension. The author gives a vivid re-creation of the Siege of Delhi, as well as a plaintive telling of the massacre of women and children at Cawnpore, a horrific bloodbath from which even the natives themselves shrank. It is against this tumultuous, historical backdrop that the personal drama of Winter and Captain Randall is juxtaposed.

With a wonderful cast of Indian and Anglo characters, the author gives the reader a sense of the vastness of India with its many different religions and castes. She successfully depicts the colonialist attitudes that would serve to unite Indians whose paths might not ordinarily cross and galvanize them to take violent action in an attempt to break the oppressive, colonial yoke. The Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 would be a lesson that England would long remember.

This is a riveting novel that those who love well-written historical fiction will enjoy, as will those who simply love a well told tale. Bravo!

If you liked M.M. Kaye's "Far Pavilions" of TV miniseries fame, you may find this earlier work by the author even more enjoyable. A romance novel to be sure, but non-fans of the genre (I am usually amongst their number) will find it a very pleasant surprise, especially if you can get a copy of the early editions, which were considerably shorter than those that came out after the success of the "Far Pavilions". Ms. Kaye's outstanding attention to Indian historical and cultural detail surrounding the Great Sepoy Mutiny supplements the central love story wonderfully. Actually, the reader soon becomes aware that "Shadow of the Moon" is a tale of two love stories - one between Alex and Winter and one between Ms. Kaye and the people, culture and land of India. If you like a good love story, lots of action, many interesting secondary characters, and a generous dose of education about a fascinating and pivotal time in Indian and British history, this book is a must read.

M. M. Kaye's extraordinary novel "Shadow of the Moon" combines historical fact with a wonderful love story set against the beauty and complexity of India during the British Raj. One of Ms. Kaye's gifts as a writer is her ability to create three-dimensional characters and plausibly insert them into historic events. Here she intertwines her cast of characters with history and through the microcosm of their lives we view the dramatic events of the past.

The action in M. M. Kaye's novel pivots around the Mutiny of 1857," also called the "Sepoy Rebellion." Indian soldiers in the Bengal army of the British East India Company rose against their British rulers in May 1857 and the violent uprising quickly spread throughout British ruled India. "Shadow of the Moon" is the love story of an Anglo-Spanish heiress with vast land holdings in India and a political officer of the East India Company. The author intertwines the lives of these two central characters, and a large supporting cast, with historical events to create a wonderful epic novel.

Ms. Kaye has written more than a historical novel here, although the book is full of romance, intrigue and the extraordinary colors of India. The author is the daughter of Anglo-Indians and writes with an obvious love of the country and all its varied cultures. She portrays many of the colonialist characters with the arrogant and superior attitudes so prevalent at the time and juxtaposes them and their narrowly focused lives against the realities of the world which surrounds them. These Victorian colonial attitudes, beliefs and zeal to spread their culture and religion appear to have made the uprising an inevitability.

I couldn't put this novel down and can't recommend it highly enough!
Jana

I first discovered this book (the earlier 1956 edition) when I was a young teenager. I grew up in a house filled with books and was always an avid reader. One rainy day I was browsing through my parents' bookshelves looking for something to read, and found Shadow of the Moon. The title caught my eye, so I took it out, and after the first page I was hooked. I could not put the book down until I had finished! I read it many times over my teenage years, and my young 20's.

Then, after the success of Kaye's The far Pavillions, they reissued this book in an expanded version. I had to buy my own copy and loved it even more than the original. I've never been a fan of "romance" as a genre, preferring mysteries and SciFi, and historical fiction, but I do enjoy a touch of romance in my novels, as long as that is not the total purpose of the book. And this one just fits the bill. An interesting romance but set against the background of the Indian Sepoy Rebellion of 1857. The history really takes center stage, and I loved that part of it.

This book was that one that triggered a lifetime fascination with India, and also led me to read many other books on the subject, as well as all the other books by author M.M. Kaye. I've enjoyed all of them, but this one remains my favorite.

MM Kaye is an engrossing story teller with an eye for easy and vivid descriptions. She wrote two epic tales of India, The Far Pavillions and this one, Shadow of the Moon. Both are stories of characters torn between countries and cultures - searching for identity, but Shadow of the Moon is by far the more traditionally romantic of two. This is the story of Winter de Ballesteros, the only child of a marriage between an British Earl's grand-daughter, and dashing Spanish hidalgo. The first few chapters introduce us to her family history, from Ware, in the bitter cold of Northern Britain, through the tragedy of Waterloo to India where Winter's parents meet, marry and eventually face tragedy. After their death, isolated without relatives in India, Winter is brought up by her father's sister who has married a Hindu. When she is finally sent back to Britain to the care of her great-grandfather it is to disastorous results. Winter doesn't speak English well, is quiet, and 'sallow', her relatives hate her and her great-grandfather is too old to protect her. In this lonely state she is given the chance to marry a man she has only met once in her youth, and with it the chance to return to India where he works - that one meeting has left her with highly romantic memories of him and probably because she desparately misses India, she accepts. Unfortunately when she returns it is to a troubled country, for India in the mid 1850's is in ferment - boiling on the edge of the forthcoming mutiny - and her husband is a prize prig. In this all is Alex, her husband's aide and source of great conflict for her emotions - and for his - for events in the country rapidly move out of control Alex finds himself in conflict - does he protect Winter?- or does he leave her and think of the greater good he can do for the country as a whole?

Kaye's story has less of the personal conflict over identity which was evident in The Far Pavillions but I still found the story of Winter and Alex gripping, and it is told against the background of India in turmoil. And she is so good as a story teller, you can literally smell the country, the bazaars, and the heat.

I put off reading this book due to the bulk of it, but once your'e into it - you're hooked. The story is beautiful, of the charming Winter de Ballesteros and the dashing Alex Randall, and M. M. Kaye weaves you into the plot by making you feel as if you are in the midst of the war, running for your life, screaming, hiding. It has been written absolutely beautifully. Although I must admit that there is a bit too much history, I cannot get down to returning this book to my friend - its mine for keeps! Its a must own, and enchanting, capturing book, a haunting story, which "will haunt you forever, as long as the heart remembers"

This was just an amazing book. Once the author set up her characters and story line things just cooked along -- be prepared for the last 200 pages, because you will not surface for air until it's done! We have Winter, a wealthy heiress born and orphaned in India and sent to England to be raised by mostly uncaring relatives(except for the great-grandfather). When her great-grandfather dies, she is sent at the age of 17 to join her fiancee under the care of Alex Randall, who unbeknownst to her is now a debauched, obese drunk. Alex does try to tell her, but she maintains her childhood image of her "hero" and will not listen, to her great regret.

Lots of trials and tribulations as our hero and heroine travel back to India, the meeting and marriage to Conway and the Sepoy rebellion, and vividly portrayed by an author who has a great knowledge and love of the country and it's history. This is not only a story of two lovers, but one of stubborn, bigoted officials hiding their heads in the sand, treachery, intrigue and the brutal way in which the rebellion played out against the British, even shocking some of their own people. As with The Far Pavilions, it is shocking to see after 150 years not much of life and politics has changed in the Far East, nor should the Europeans (or Americans now for that matter) be interfering in their life, culture and religion.

Highly recommended for any lover of historical fiction, India, or just a darn good book. This would make an awesome mini series, the sequences from the attack on the British and Alex and Winter's escape are just breathtaking. As a side note for those loooking for well written books for younger readers, this should be a good choice. Originally written in the 50's, the love scenes are quite chaste. Just be prepared for some gory, though accurate, portrayal of the violence aginst the British (including women and children) during the rebellion.

If you enjoy this book, I would also recommend Zemindar. The same topic, the Sepoy rebellion, and beautifully written. The author's prose was gorgeous, very reminiscent of Charlotte Bronte.

This is a superlative work of beautifully written, well-researched historical fiction by the author of the best selling, sweeping epic, "The Far Pavilions". The author was born in India, where she lived most of her life. Her love of that country is evident in her loving, descriptive passages of the land of her birth. Her assessment of Anglo-Indian relations during the time of the British Raj is infused in the characters of her spellbinding novel. With exotic, mid-eighteenth century India as a backdrop for most of this engrossing story, the reader is swept away by its beautifully descriptive narrative. It is in India that the fate of a beautiful, young, Anglo-Spaniard heiress with the improbable name of Winter Ballasteros and that of Captain Alex Randall, a commissioned officer with the East India Company, are irrevocably intertwined.

Born in India and orphaned at an early age, Winter is brought up in England but is always longing for the land of her birth. The opportunity to return home to India presents itself when she is betrothed at a tender age to the debauched Conway Barton, the grasping Commissioner of Lunjore, who is many years her senior. Captain Randall, who is sent by the Commissioner to escort his betrothed to India, is loathe to do so, knowing the Commissioner to be no fit husband for a seventeen year old girl, Moreover, Captain Randall is keenly sensitive to the potentially dangerous feelings of unrest that seem to be sweeping India, as its native population begins to chafe under the insensitive rule of its colonial masters.

Once in India and against a backdrop of native unrest, Winter and Captain Randall slowly begin to develop a relationship. When the Sepoy Rebellion of 1957 occurs, Winter and Captain Randall are thrown together. They discover that they must struggle to survive the madness and bloodlust that is all around them, as they witness atrocities beyond comprehension. The author gives a vivid re-creation of the Siege of Delhi, as well as a plaintive telling of the massacre of women and children at Cawnpore, a horrific bloodbath from which even the natives themselves shrank. It is against this tumultuous, historical backdrop that the personal drama of Winter and Captain Randall is juxtaposed.

With a wonderful cast of Indian and Anglo characters, the author gives the reader a sense of the vastness of India with its many different religions and castes. She successfully depicts the colonialist attitudes that would serve to unite Indians whose paths might not ordinarily cross and galvanize them to take violent action in an attempt to break the oppressive, colonial yoke. The Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 would be a lesson that England would long remember.

This is a riveting novel that those who love well-written historical fiction will enjoy, as will those who simply love a well told tale. Bravo!

"Shadow of the Moon" is the story of the time before and after the Sephoy rebellion. It is the story of two people who are passionate about India, Winter and Alex. As an officer in the Indian army, Alex is asked to escort seventeen year old English/Spanish/Indian heiress Winter back to the land of her birth, to the man she has been engaged too since age eleven. Alex expects an older woman-a spinster with no other option than to marry his corpulent, drug and alcohol addled chief. But Winter's true age, and her childish attachment to the handsome man she was affianced too brings out a resented sense of responsibility in Alex and he continues to watch over her in India.

I read in the back of my copy of "Shadow of the Moon" that the original version, published in the 1950's, contained less than half of the original manuscript, which was re-printed in its entirety in the 80's. It's easy when reading this book to see what would have been cut out-M.M. Kaye is great at describing social interactions, clothing and landscapes but she isn't so good when describing the politics that went on before the Sephoy rebellion. So the original book would have been (I imagine) a romance with very little insight to the political ramifications of the British occupation of India. It's a pity that the real manuscript took too long to come out because while it has its slow parts it is a very complete picture of two very different societies occupying the same space and expecting to co-exist.

Winter and Alex, our main characters, represent two very different aspects of India. Though both were born and to some extent, raised there, neither is actually of the land (though they both posses physical traits which allow them to fake it.) Winter, because of her sex and marriage is incorporated in British India, and Alex, even though he works for the British army, has an understanding of the Indian feelings toward the British that most people can hardly grasp. So he spends the majority of the novel sneaking around, finding information about the rebellion he believes will happen soon. Naturally, no one believes him because with the conceit of the conquerors, the British believe they are enhancing and improving Indian society and culture.

Naturally our hero and heroine develop feelings for each other-which come to a head at the worst possible moment when they are hiding from Indians who are outraged enough to commit atrocities beyond belief.

Like The Far Pavilions this an amazing novel full of romance, vivid descriptions of culture, places, clothing and attitudes of the time. While not quite as engaging as "Pavilions" (mostly because of the political discussions, which Kaye never really manages to make all that interesting though they should be fascinating) it is head and tails above Trade Wind.(Though of course everything Kaye writes is wonderful, it only varies by slight degrees.)

Five stars. But make sure you get the complete version!

Don't be put off by it's length or the subject matter (Indian sepoy rebellion of 1850's). This book is beautifully written by a master storyteller. (MM Kaye could make indoor plumbing sound exotic and romantic!) Men and women both would enjoy this novel. Lots of action, history, adventure, and romance. No in-your-face explicit sex scenes. I see that it's out of print but I still see it in used bookstores. Buy it if you can find it. I guarantee you will NOT be disappointed. MM Kaye has also written "The Far Pavillions", "Trade Wind", and a series of murder mysteries titled "Death in...". There's not one rotten apple in the bunch. This writer is surperb!