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Under The Jeweled Sky (2014)

by Alison McQueen(Favorite Author)

3.33 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

140228876X (ISBN13: 9781402288760)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Sourcebooks Landmark

review 1: I have a total fascination with India which led me to pick up this book from the library shelf. The story has two time lines going, one when Sophie (the main character) was young and one when she's about 5-10 years older. Her father was placed in India as a doctor to a maharajah and she fell in love with an Indian servant there. She ends up getting pregnant by the boy and having to deal with the consequences of that. I was totally captivated by the book. I really liked the character development. I loved Jag, the love interest, and enjoyed seeing him develop throughout the story. There were some moments when I was just crestfallen because of what happened to certain characters (which I won't reveal), but I was too caught up in the events to be upset enough to put the... more book down. I was happy with the way it ended because that was the best scenario at that point. Overall, I would recommend this to those interested in India and who don't mind when authors do bad things to good characters. :)
review 2: Under the Jeweled Sky opens in a terrible time in history for India, just before the Partition. Sophie is a teenager and her father moves her and her mother to India to work as a doctor at a palace. Sophie doesn't have a lot to do there but she enjoys wondering around the palace looking at all it has to offer. She is not really allowed into some of the places she goes and when she meets a teen Indian boy, Jag, he shows her all kinds of secret passages.Sophie and Jag become fast friends but when his father and her parents find out about it, they are forbidden to see each other. Rumours start among the Indian workers about their relationship and Jag's father insist that he and Jag leave, despite how close his father is to retirement and a pension.They leave, right at the start of the Partition and end up making their way to a refuge camp. They struggle from day to day, just to get their basic neccesities met and soon Jag's father gets sick.Fast forward almost ten years later and Sophie has been living back in London, working in the government typing pool. She meets Lucien and he talks her into marrying him. They are then posted to New Delhi, India. They get wrapped up in the ex-pat high society and things start to happen.I can't tell you more without the risk of spoilers so you will have to read this book yourself. The first part of the book is my favorite. I like how the characters of teenage Sophie and Jag develop and interact. After that the story flashes back and forth from present day to the past. Perhaps just a little too much for my taste but this is really just a small complaint. I still highly recommend Under the Jeweled Sky to historical fiction lovers! less

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