The Kashmir Shawl
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4.3 • 128 Ratings
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
For fans of The Tea-Planter’s Wife and Victoria Hislop comes a gripping story of doomed love and secrets in 1940s Kashmir.
Within one exotic land lie the secrets of a lifetime…
In 1938, young bride Nerys Watkins accompanies her missionary husband on a posting to India. Up in Srinagar, the British live on beautiful wooden houseboats and dance and gossip as if there is no war. But when the men are sent away to fight Nerys is caught up in a dangerous friendship.
Years later, when Mair Ellis clears out her father’s house, she finds an antique shawl with a lock of child’s hair wrapped up in its folds. Tracing her grandparents’ roots back to Kashmir, Mair uncovers a story of great love and great sacrifice.
Reviews
‘A spellbinding tale. Beautifully written, honest and compassionate’ Daily Express
‘An epic tale…A complicated entanglement of family secrets, love during wartime and dangerous liaisons. For fans of Maggie O’Farrell’ Red
‘A superbly written novel, marvellously descriptive and especially evocative of the war years . . . a gorgeous treat’ Choice
‘Thomas’ portrayal of a young wife struggling to cope with life in wartime Kashmir, her husband’s indifference to her and her attraction to a charismatic mountaineer is beautifully written, touching and believable’ The Daily Express
‘A superbly researched and vivid evocation of wartime Kashmir and Ladakh’ Daily Mail
About the author
Rosie Thomas is the author of a number of celebrated novels, including the bestsellers The Kashmir Shawl, Sun at Midnight, Iris and Ruby and Constance. Once she was established as a writer and her children were grown, she discovered a love of travelling and mountaineering. She has climbed in the Alps and the Himalayas, competed in the Peking to Paris car rally, spent time on a tiny Bulgarian research station in Antarctica and travelled the silk road through Asia. She lives in London.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Thomas (Lovers & Newcomers), best known as a romance author, weaves a love mystery in her latest work that's light on plot, but heavy on rich characters and scenery. While cleaning out her deceased father's house, Mair Ellis discovers an old shawl that belonged to her grandmother, along with a curious lock of hair. Mair, a single woman who has floated through life, is moved to find out more about the shawl, the hair, and her grandmother Nerys, who once lived as a Christian missionary in India. She travels to Kashmir, where Nerys's story unravels in extensive flashbacks, as her then young grandmother's loves, pain, and enduring friendships take center stage. The premise of an old shawl triggering such an extensive journey is a weak construct and advances the story only at a molasses pace. Moreover, Mair never fully reaches her potential as an interesting protagonist. Though Thomas falls short in providing a present-day storyline, she makes up for it with the compelling, scandalous tale of Nerys in 1940s India, set against the dynamic backdrop of Kashmir.
Customer Reviews
The Kashmir Shawl
I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Mair and the people around her as she journeys in and out of events that shape their lives and culture through the threads of time.
The intimate threads of people’s tales woven together through the a shimmering Kashmir story, a reminder of the soft strength of fabric that often overlooked still warms, protects and binds us all.
I was sent this book by someone I got chatting to in the hills of Provence- thank you for this gift!
A lovely read
Great characters & an interesting story - definitely recommended
Kashmir shawl
What a wonderful book to escape into. Rosie Thomas paints such lovely pictures that you are almost there amongst the people, sites and smells. The way the lives are intertwined is great and although it goes back and forth from present to past it isn't a problem. Really enjoyed this and would highly recommend it.