[amazon_link id=”0778315479″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : Teatime for the firefly
Author : Shona Patel
Genre : Historical fiction/Romance
Publisher : Harlequin MIRA
Publish Date : September 24, 2013
Source : Netgalley/Publisher ARC
Rating : 4.5/5

Layla Roy is an orphan who’s been brought up by her progressive grandfather. An influential, well-read man, he is Dadmoshai to Layla. He has educated her and encouraged her to learn and question, in opposition to the social practice of having girls “stay at home and prepare for marriage”. Lively Layla finds love and a lifelong partner in Manik Deb, and moves to the tea gardens of Aynakhal in remote Assam, where he is manager.

As she settles into her new life as the memsahib of the plantation, she has a lot to learn – from the tea “culture” on the tea-plantations to her duties as domesticator-in-chief. When the country’s political climate begins to change, Manik and Layla’s future and well being is suddenly threatened.

The book is set in the 1940s and beautifully describes that time. We see Assam through Layla’s eyes and when she moves to Aynakhal, we get a great look-see into the colonial society of the tea plantations. In her hometown with Dadamoshai Layla meets a diverse set of people – from the very bright and intellectual to the very orthodox and superstitious. She sees things via the prism of her grandfather’s wise counsel, and we experience India’s society – folk-lore, superstition, social customs and more through her. At Aynakhal she is Manik’s wife, the only non-white memsahib, and comes to understand that Manik is looked up to as “mai-baap” by the poor, uneducated populace.

I liked this book because of its captivating characters – the three main ones as well as the carefully etched peripheral ones. In feisty, impetuous Layla, the author has created a likeable and engaging heroine. The book is told from her view-point, and the tale is often tinged with Layla-like humor, even in times when she is beset with worry:

I lay in bed. The small scrabble that started in my stomach was turning into a claustrophobic dread. I had forgotten all about the leopard hunt. Was Fate waiting to deal her final blow? The thought of Manik up on a bamboo platform in the dark jungle, with a man-eating leopard on the loose had all the makings of a catastrophe. All I could imagine were guns misfiring, Manik falling off the machan, the leopard choosing him over the goat. Unchained and wounded, Manik would be the perfect meal on a platter. The leopard would carry him off into the jungle to relish him at leisure, and I would be left lonely and forsaken in this old bungalow.

Dadamoshai is another wonderful character – a man with the courage of his convictions. Especially for those times, he is a very liberal man, strongly committed to a just society and fostering “dignity and self-confidence in a young woman”. Were it that there more enlightened men like him! Manik is a Rhodes scholar, and is a frank, forthright sort of fellow, with “none of the calculated deference and awkwardness of Indian men”. In Layla he seeks and finds an equal partner.

I have to say that I was totally blown away by this lovely, lyrical novel. At the outset, I had expected a pleasant love tale at best, not this atmospheric, historically rich romance. The author writes with great affection for her characters, and it shows in her skilled writing and wonderful descriptions. This spectacular book is a gorgeous, gorgeous read; I’d consider it one of the best books of the year. Highly recommended.