I will always have fond memories of this novel as I read it throughout a recent journey across northern India from Shimla to Kolkata. How I wished I could have visited Srinagar and stayed on a houseboat as the author had. I loved the scope of the novel, travelling from the present day to war-time India. The shawl was a perfect link to both past and present and it was only towards the end of the novel that all was revealed. How a missionary’s wife had such a precious garment in her possession remained a mystery till then. Over the years I have collected Kashmiri embroidery and recently bought an exquisitely embroidered shawl in Nepal; so few tourists now visit Kashmir that their handiwork is often sold in other places. The novel enriched my love of India, as I knew it would. Twenty-six years ago, on our first visit to India, I was inspired by reading Paul Scott’s Raj Quartet. Reading The Kashmir Shawl took me back to that era and made me want to learn more. I have become interested in maharajahs’ jewels and palaces; Ravi Singh, Caroline’s lover, comes alive in sepia photos of tiger shoots and polo matches. I defy anyone to read this book and not want to visit this fascinating country; I would go back tomorrow. While I am in the mood I must order a DVD of ‘Heat and Dust’.
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