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Flame Tree Road

Review

Flame Tree Road

Shona Patel’s acclaimed first novel, TEATIME FOR THE FIREFLY, enchanted readers with imagery, romance, adventure and historical authenticity directly from the heart of her native India. She vividly brought to life the remote jungles and tea plantations of Assam through the story of Layla and Manik. Layla’s life might have been quite different had it not been for her grandfather (whom she called Dadamoshai), who saw to it that she was properly educated at a time when that was not customary for young Indian girls.

"This prequel to TEATIME FOR THE FIREFLY validates Shona Patel as that rare novelist who is a born storyteller, as she brings to life an era that will forever change the face of India."

Biren Roy, or Dadamoshai to Layla, is the wise and profound grandfather and one of many compelling supporting characters from Patel’s debut. We meet Biren, who was born in the late 1800s, as an inquisitive and studious small boy. In the centuries-old traditions of his remote village society, it seems inevitable that his destiny is sealed and he will follow in his father’s footsteps at the jute factory. When his mother is widowed by an accident at the factory, he is shaken by her cruel treatment by his family and village. A boy with a thirst for knowledge had little hope of breaking out of the caste system, but the British factory owner recognizes Biren’s quick mind and sees to it that he and his younger brother receive an education in the best schools India has to offer. When he furthers his schooling at Cambridge University in the early days of England’s suffrage movement, he vows to return to his native India to fight for change. 

FLAME TREE ROAD follows Biren through the profound changes stirring in England and in India under British rule at the turn of the 20th century. Dedicated to his own education and goals, he finds little time for personal relationships until he returns to India and meets Maya, the daughter of a teacher and member of the Weaver’s Guild, who will become the love of his life.

Biren’s own experience led him to become a leading proponent of schools for girls, which flew in the face of ancient traditions where marriages were often arranged at birth. When he was growing up, the caste system was still firmly upheld, and intermingling of families, even between trades, was strictly forbidden. It was not uncommon for girls to be publicly beaten and shunned for consorting with an unsuitable future husband, and widows were doomed to a life of abandonment by families and society.  

This prequel to TEATIME FOR THE FIREFLY validates Shona Patel as that rare novelist who is a born storyteller, as she brings to life an era that will forever change the face of India. Patel is now at work on the third in this trilogy, which returns to post-World War II in Assam, the setting for her debut. She intends to expand on some of the other intriguing characters from the first book, and I look forward to seeing those plans come to fruition.

Reviewed by Roz Shea on July 2, 2015

Flame Tree Road
by Shona Patel

  • Publication Date: June 30, 2015
  • Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction
  • Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Mira
  • ISBN-10: 0778316653
  • ISBN-13: 9780778316657