the ask@AAR: What romance takes you to a far away place?
I’ve just finished my annual re-read of Meredith Duran’s debut The Duke of Shadows. The first part is set in India during the ill-fated rebellion of 1857. The rebellion began in Delhi where Emma, the book’s damaged heroine, and Julian, the equally damaged hero, are. Duran shows us Delhi through Emma’s eyes and her descriptions of it are vivid, violent, and, appropriately, that of a stranger trying and failing to understand the real Jewel in the Crown. Duran is, for me, an author whose settings are transportive. Sherry Thomas does that too–it’s one of the reasons I read my favorite of their books again and again.
Last week, we asked about romances that created a strong sense of place in the United States. Today, we’re asking about the rest of the world. What romances immerse you in a foreign locale?
For those love Russian setting I highly recommend The Ice King by Dinah Dean.
I really loved Katherine Arden’s Winternight Trilogy for its depiction of a particular period of Russian history.
Mimi Matthew’s A Modest Independence describes a journey from London to Darjeeling in mid 19th century. Loved it. Caroline Warfield, The Reluctant Wife, also shows India at that time and especially the mores of the english colonial society and its attitude against the native Indian Soviet.
I just finished My Christmas Number One by Leonie Mack, which has an extended trip by the h/h to Colombia. It was an unusual setting for a contemporary for me and lots of fun.
I would also like to give a shout out to Jackie Lau’s many fun romances set in Toronto and smaller towns in Ontario.
Ooooooo! This book is on sale today. I’ve bought it–it will be an interesting read after The Duke of Shadows.
https://amzn.to/346pZgn
Duke of Shadows is probably my favorite romance, or at least tied for first place alongside Dain and Jessica. It’s just so good on every level.
I’d be hard-pressed to choose one of Laura Kinsale’s books, she does a great job of dropping you into the story. I am thinking of The Dream Hunter specifically, though it’s been so long since I’ve read it I could probably find problematic things in it. But I remember being really struck by how well she painted the differences between the desert and the restrictions of London high society.
And then, of course, the Lymond Chronicles. Is it cheating to invoke Dunnett? It may be historical fiction but I would argue it’s romance in the truest literary sense.
I really appreciate these discussions. I’m always finding books and authors I either didn’t know or had forgotten about.
TBRs are endless.
The descriptions of the scenery in Annabeth Albert’s recent Alaska-set trilogy (Arctic Sun. Arctic Wild and Arctic Heat) had me wanting to get on a plane…
Here’s a few more books with far-flung settings that really captured my imagination: Valerie Fitzgerald’s Zemindar which won the Georgette Heyer Historical Novel prize in 1980 and the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 1982. It’s set in India during the Raj. Patricia Wright wrote a couple of novels set in Czarist Russia, my favourite being A Space of the Heart (also published as Ilena). And Emma Drummond wrote a number of historical novels with a military setting and a romance set variously in South Africa, India, Afghanistan and China. All Oldies But Goodies and still on my keeper shelf.
Mary Jo Putney’s Silt and Secrets and Veils of Silk are set in Central Asia.
Angelique series by Serganne Golon (French husband/wife team) bring France of Lois XIV to life. Not sure why the period is practically absent from the romance novels, even English Restoration is rare these days.
I remember my mother reading Serganne Golon’s books and her telling me that I was not old enough to read them. Of course I read them when she was at work or busy!! Too bad they have largely been forgotten.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve read Duke of Shadows. It really spoke to me about depression, and the writing… oh, the writing. I had the same type of reaction to Sherry Thomas’s Not Quite a Husband. Those two books fall into a special category with M.M.Kaye’s epic Shadow of the Moon. If my house caught fire, I’d try to grab them right after leashing up the dogs.
Those are the two I always give to lit fic people who want to try romance.
The Cairo Trilogy, especially The Place Walk by Naguib Mahfouz is beautifully descriptive about middle class Cairo.
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje is gorgeous and one of my favorite books.
I read the Raj Quartet by Paul Scott in High School and it’s an amazing saga about colonial India and it’s ultimate independence from Britain. Probably PBS’s greatest miniseries The Jewel in the Crown.
It’s a fantasy but The Lord of the Rings is fantastic in it’s description of foreign lands. Eowyn and Merry in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields is sensational!
And I agree with CarrieG, An Infamous Army is incredible! My Dad who is a Napoleonic historian says it is a perfect book about the Battle of Waterloo.
Jill Mansell writes lovingly about Cornwall and the Cotswolds and when I read her books about those places I always wish I was there in person.
<b>An Infamous Army</b> by Georgette Heyer made the Battle of Waterloo, including the site of the battle absolutely riveting. While I listened to it on audio, I opened maps of the area and followed the battle that way. I stopped my audiobook to look up the area on maps and to learn more about the events leading up to it. I know this isn’t exactly what you’re asking for, but I now know more about the geography of the area because of this book, and would love to visit the site some day. The battle portion of <b>An Infamous Army</b> is considered one of the most accurate descriptions of the battle ever written, and has been used at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as part of their training.
My husband and I did a 3 day walking tour of Waterloo a few years ago, in June and in the rain, just like on the morning of the battle. Visiting Hougoumont was akin to visiting the Alamo – full of atmosphere and my imagination ran riot!
I’d add Daphne du Maurier for atmospheric depictions of Cornwall. And who can forget the exotic locations of Mary Stewart’s romantic suspense? Or Helen MacInnes’ romantic thrillers from various hotspots across the mid-20th century and cold war era landscape? More recently, I think Rachel Grant’s books are good for taking readers to geopolitical hotspots.
Loretta Chase’s The Lion’s Daughter was partly set in Albania, which is rarely used as a location in historicals, let alone in historical romance.
The romances in Genevieve Graham’s novels are hit or miss with me, but I pick them up for the well realized Canadian settings and history.
I also have a soft spot for Constance Heaven’s Russian novels (such as her Kuragin trilogy). I also recommend The Raging Fire to anyone interested in Russia leading up to the revolution.
Daphne du Maurier made Bodmin Moor practically another character the way Emily Bronte did the Moors in Wuthering Heights.
I love those old school Gothic romances like Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart and Barbara Michaels for their great atmosphere and descriptions. I took many a trip with them before I actually got to travel anywhere for real.
I remember Constance Heaven! I truly enjoyed her Kuragin trilogy. Great reminder, Eggletina!
Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters is an author that always did an amazing job of transporting me whether it was to Egypt, Copenhagen, Cornwall or just a hot summer in Maryland.
Joanna Bourne is another author who really manages to place you right into the story. When I read ‘The Forbidden Rose” I truly feel I am in the middle of France during the tumultuous days of the French Revolution.
So agree about The Forbidden Rose. I’ve been underneath Paris many a time and Bourne gets the tunnels and their capaciousness perfectly.
I love that she chooses unusual places as well as the familiar. I will never get to go to the Chinese Baths in Paris (as they were demolished mid 19th century) but her book made me feel like I was there, or waiting with the long lines of common folk to make it past the gates that led out of Paris.
I just re-read A Forbidden Rose and Bourne’s Paris was fascinating. I had forgotten how good the book is, It’s my favorite in the series.
I’ve been to a Hammam in Tunisia and it was an incredible experience. I was scrubbed, sugared and oiled in preparation for a wedding. I even had henna tattoos on my hands. An unforgettable weekend, now if I could just attend a traditional Hindu wedding celebration I would be content. :)
Yes, The Forbidden Rose is wonderful for taking you back to that time and place. I can never forget the young Adrian being bitter about the greenhouse for flowers while people were freezing, and Doyle saying something like, “Right. No more flowers then.”
That whole book is full of the best quotes. One of my favorites from that discussion is when Adrian says “here’s my professional opinion: you can burn a place down or you can loot it, it’s a mistake to try to do both at the same time.”
Adrian is also the bomb in my favorite Bourne, My Lord and Spymaster.
“I want reliable mail service to St. Petersburg in the winter. We must both live with disappointment. ”
Adrian’s book is my favorite in the series. It’s the only one of the series I read and reread, though I think it’s because I love Adrian and Justine so much, rather than the setting.
On the subject of India, I enjoyed reading The Sleeping Dictionary by Sujata Massey recently. The story takes place in the 1930s and 1940s in India, obviously a politically turbulent time. It’s probably classified as historical fiction, but it definitely has a strong thread of romance running through it.
Also loved reading The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani, which takes place in Northern Italy near the Alps, New York, and the American Midwest around the turn of the last century. Again, a work of historical fiction with some romantic elements.
Cheating a bit by mentioning two wonderful epics by James Clavell: Shogun and Tai-Pan. His characterizations and depictions of time and place in early-1600s Japan and mid-1800s Hong Kong are exemplary. Also on the cheating list, James Michener’s Hawaii.
Oh, and of course, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.
I think James Clavell is probably single handedly responsible for getting a huge number of people interested in Japanese history and one of the few writers I can think of that acknowledges the incredible impact the Portuguese had on the world at that time. Everyone knows about Spain but Portugal never gets its due in historical fiction or romance.
Speaking of Portugal, who wouldn’t love the side character in Shogun, Vasco Rodriguez? (“I’m not Spanish. I’m Portuguese!”)
I haven’t read The Sleeping Dictionary, but I have read Sujata Massey’s The Satapur Moonstone and the sense of place, a remote mountain range in 1920’s India, is wonderful
I’m definitely inspired to read more novels by Massey after my great experience with The Sleeping Dictionary. Too bad my TBR list never gets any shorter… :)
The Bronze Horseman really immerses you in WWII Leningrad. Though it’s probably more accurate to call it a love story and not a genre romance.
The Hidden Blade/My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas – primarily the sections set in China, though Leighton also travels elsewhere.
I love these books. And I love that Leighton shows up in the latest Sherlock Holmes (Art of Theft) story.
Duran’s The Duke of Shadows is one of my favorite books, and I think part of the reason the Indian setting is so powerful is that it isn’t common in historical romance. The second half of the book, set in England, is also well done and well researched, but it isn’t as striking because readers of historical romance are fairly familiar with Georgian and Victorian England. When you sink into the setting of even the best historical romances, how much of the pleasure is from the novelty and how much is from the familiarity?
Susanna Kearsley is an author whose settings are always an important part of the story. One that really entranced me was the Italian Lake District setting of Season of Storms. Every time I even think about it, I want to go there!
the duke of shadows is a favorite because it’s one of the rare times i’ve seen my culture represented in historical romance. Duran really does bring the setting to life and her research shows, especially the nuance with which she depicts the different religious/ethnic groups. 1857’s war has effects that are still felt today; arguably it started off an almost century long struggle for independence from the British, and to see it portrayed in such vivid writing was a real pleasure.
as for today’s question: Madeline Hunter’s By Arrangement. it weaves in conflict and intrigue with romance in a seamless way. there’s a psychological complexity to the relationship between our two leads that’s rare in historical romance now.
Agree about the vividness of India. The fictional fort of Sapnagar is based on the forts in Jodhpur, Jaipur, and Udaipur. I have visited forts in all three places and, as I read Duran’s description of Sapnagar, it felt just as those places are.
Duran didn’t think anyone would publish this–her story behind it is fascinating.
http://www.meredithduran.com/dos.html
Leon Uris’ WWII epic Battle Cry takes place in locations all over the world, but the scenes in New Zealand were very evocative of a time and place. Neville Shute’s A Town Like Alice pulled me in to the scenes set in Malaya, the forced march, and later the part that takes place in the Outback of Australia in the years following the war is amazing. (I recently re-read it and while the story held up for me, it is certainly filled with racist language and sexist behavior, which didn’t bother me in the least when I read it 40 years ago. I have a different mindset now, and a lot of that is quite offensive. Its still a book worth reading, but don’t say you haven’t been warned!)
Jane Eyre does an excellent job of creating a lonely estate on the moors of England. I always felt transported there when I read that book. Another book that establishes place in a visceral way is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I felt positively haunted by that Manderly for days after I finished that book!