The Kashmir Shawl: A Novel

I absolutely recommend this book! If you have traveled to or always hoped to travel to places like India and Kashmir you will love this wonderful read! The characters are so real, and it's so beautifully written you will be as heartbroken as I was when it ended! It was interesting, intriguing, educational, inspirational-and more!

The test of a good read is, in my opinion, rushing through a boring task (like housework) in order to sit down and read a few chapters. Conversely, one may avoid reading towards the end of a good book, not wanting the story to end. The Kashmir Shawl was such a book.I've always enjoyed reading about Colonial India and its relationships with neighboring states. I located most of the locations mentioned in the book on a world map, and followed Nerys and Mair's journeys with great interest. This was my first book by this author, and I was impressed with how thoroughly she researches her history. To enjoy a book and actually learn a little bit about history is a great combination. The characters were richly drawn, with the women seemingly stronger than the men. Caroline's and Nerys's romantic affairs were treated with dignity no matter what the outcome, or the reasons behind them. The men were for the most part very stiff, caught up in their own roles of the Raj in that period of history. Then again, the book is more about the women left behind than the military battles of that time. If the final link between the past and present stories was a little implausible, it did allow for the story to finally wind down, with an expected and pleasant ending.Seven years of employment in a bookstore have taught me that many novels labeled and located in the "romance" section are actually just good historical fiction. I encourage anyone who enjoys a good book, a la Maeve Binchy and Kate Morton (to name a few) to try this one.

How well do we know our family? How much of our parents or grandparents life stories are lost with them?This book looks at the complex natures not only within families but within our own relationships as husbands, wives and friends. Like the shawl itself, this tale is intricately woven and wraps you up as you float through the pages. Every character is well thought out and developed and you feel like you are right there with them.It is a story that looks at marriages and the roads that lead you together and then apart (and sometimes back together again), it is about children and the impact they have on your life (whether you have them or not) and how sometimes there are choices to be made that impact every element of your life.The story jumps between current day and the 1940's and while there are snippets of Wales, the majority of it is set in India.I have not read anything else by Rosie Thomas - but this was a great read and I could recommend it to anyone looking for a historical/drama with a touch of romance x

Rosie Thomas' descriptive narrative had me spellbound as she takes the reader through parts of India during colonial times and through the war years and then retraces the journey 70 years later. I love historical novels, so was fascinated by the story of a young Welsh woman searching for the truth behind an original and exquisitely handmade Kashmir shawl that she found in her family home after her parents had died. Her journey takes her first to a small hillside village in India where her missionary grandparents lived a harsh life serving the local community before moving to the more flamboyant colonial Srinagar. We discover the natural beauty of the different parts of India in the hills and valleys as well as wonderful descriptions of the life in the past and today. There is a romantic thread in both parts of the story, with unusual or improbable links between people, but that is the beauty of fiction. The main characters have strong personalities and traits which draw the reader in. The author's writing had me yearning to visit Srinagar, but sadly, warring conflict dominates Kashmir then as now. Her research (including travelling through parts of India) certainly paid off. An easy and fascinating read.

This novel was a refreshing surprise...multi-layered and imaginative without trying the reader's patience with too much formula. It unfolds with a standard literary device, yet provides surprise and great texture as the story progresses. On one level, it is the story of a woman to find herself within the restraints of the decisions she has made; on another level, the story provides great atmospheric detail of the British empire in Kashmir. This is the kind of book that makes reading such a joy: you believe it is going to be one story, yet as the plot develops it unfolds in ways you could not imagine when you began page one! Having a friend who traveled to Kashmir in the 70's, before the threat of terrorism was so great, the descriptions of Kashmir mirror very closely the exotic beauty my friend described. I look forward to another book from this author. Ms. Thomas should be proud of a job well done!

This is a story that takes you to an unknown part of Northern India, to a town in the foothills of the Himalaya on a beautiful lakeside. I hardly knew it existed before I read this story. An interesting adventure story and a good read.

I really enjoyed this book - learned a lot about a time period and location I didn't know much about - India, weavers, missionaries, British in India just before the division of India and Pakistan. It was well written and I enjoyed the story - a young Welsh woman wanting to find out about her grandparents who had been missionaries in India. She learned about them by tracing her grandmother's shawl back to it's origins - it was handmade in a specific location - what was the back story? Could she discover it and how it connected to her grandmother.

Gives one good insight to history and the trouble rife life in Kashmir.

Beautifully written book. The detailed descriptions of characters and places left nothing to the imagination. I felt I was actually there, getting to know all the people involved and soaking in the Indian atmosphere. What a complete culture shock for the English people who moved there, but they coped with it all. Also author's research into life in Kashmir in two complete different eras was amazing.

Avevo già letto altri romanzi di questa autrice, ma questo e più intrigante nella costruzione parallela di due epoche , ma soprattutto nella descrizione accurata di parte dell'India prebellica . Impeccabile lo stile e la lingua. Consigliato!