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• the far cry

  I am left thinking of how the title fits in. Whose far cry are we meant to hear? Is it the cry of India or just the cry of a young girl trying to figure out life This book is well written. You can see all the details. The scene with the tiger is breath taking

• This is a magical novel

  I read it with growing compulsion as the deepening complexities of human understanding were layered in front of me. Emma Smith was a young woman when she wrote this story which is a surprise because it is a completely formed novel, a work of art, even a masterpiece. The young heroine, fourteen-year-old Teresa is yanked from her dull existence in England by her panicking father and hauled across the World to India. The long sea voyage is her first sense of freedom and is exquisitely described. The sights and sounds of Bombay, the tedious train journey to Calcutta, Calcutta itself are all beautifully portrayed. We follow throiugh Teresa's eyes life with the flawed sister and her good husband on the tea plantation, and the adolescent relationship with the assistant Richard. The story unfolds at the same pace as life on the sub-Continent. The author does not over embroider, she leaves us to interpret, nor does she over indulge our emotions. Her touch is light, but her perceptions are deep. This is as satisfying a book as I have read, and I am grateful to have found it.

• She brings India and the sometimes suffocating relationships of the characters brilliantly to light without wasting a word

  Unexpected. I knew Emma Smith as a writer only from "Maidens' Trip" and this is very different. She brings India and the sometimes suffocating relationships of the characters brilliantly to light without wasting a word.

• Interesting viewpoint of a young British girl in India.

  Interesting but not gripping. Pretty descriptions of India, of life on a ship in that era, just not much "oomph". Some very well-turned phrases, but I preferred her autobiography about her life on a canal boat during the war when the men had gone off to fight and these women had to run the boats themselves.

• Beautifully written book

  Beautifully written book. I found it hard to get into but once about a quarter the way thro enjoyed it v much as did the rest of our book club

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