eBook Zemindar epub

This is perhaps my favorite historical romance of all time, and I've re-read it at least once a year for maybe 20 years. It will remind some readers of Far Pavilions because of the time period and setting, but I have to say I re-read the popular classic recently, and was very disappointed. Zemindar has stood the test of time far better.

The story takes place during the the Mutiny in India, and doesn't flinch from the truly ghastly things that happened then. But it also shows the strength, heroism, and redemptive depth that ordinary people can reach in extraordinary, profoundly challenging circumstances.

I love both protagonists!

Laura Hewitt begins as a very silly and somewhat shallow young Englishwoman who travels with a friend to India and meets an India she was totally unprepared to deal with. While everything she depended upon and believed in is shredded by deadly danger and near starvation, she discovers her own intelligence, resilience, and compassionate strength as more and more people come to depend on her for their survival.

Oliver Erskine, the British Zemindar (a Zemindar is ruler of his own private kingdom in India) is far and away the most complex, prickly, commanding, fascinating, and memorable romantic hero I've ever read...and I read a LOT of romances! He gets Laura and her friends to relative safety before he devotes his connections, knowledge and skills to help end the terrible, bloody rebellion...but in the end he, too, must depend on her for his survival.

This is a BIG book, and yet I still try to read it in one sitting...every time.

An incredible read! I feel like I've just returned from a time-travel excursion to India in 1857. I was so absorbed with this book, hypnotized. And I am finding it difficult to find the words to express how terrific it was! The writing is top notch, the characters are so realistically drawn, and the plot is REAL. Such a GREAT book - I could cry.....

I can't believe that I almost missed it! Zeminder? Never heard of it. It was offered as a KindleUnlimited choice, but I usually read mysteries. Still - it sounded "sorta interesting," so I loaded it up. I had no idea what would happen next -- once I got started?!!! Wow --- I forgot my meals, my morning coffee, checking my eMail. I was in India!

I have never done this before, but the tension of Laura and Oliver's story had me so crazy that I had to flip through some of the later chapters to get to the end - and fast - to find their resolution. After completing the book, I looked up the history - found the rebellion online -- OMG -- the backdrop of this book is right on target. The remnants of the buildings mentioned are still standing. Now I have started my second reading.

I wish I could give this book 10 stars! Why can't all books be this good??? - or at least, half as good as this one? Absolutely fabulous and beyond-belief GREAT. Don't Miss This Book!

An uprising of Indian soldiers against British rule in 1857 is called "The first war of independence" in India, and a "mutiny" in British history books. As an Indian, reading a story written by a non Indian based around that event prepared me for a book that I would be ready to condemn and criticize. How wrong I was. The book is fantastic. The author deals with the issue with sensitivity and sympathy and has made a darned good book - highly recommended. The author's knowledge and description of Indian conditions, weather and geography is exquisite. For those who like history, there is history in there. And for those who like romance, there is a love story there.

A wonderful book that kept me holding on to my Kindle like a neodymium magnet.

In a nutshell: A young woman. Laura accompanies her cousin Emily and her husband Charles on a sort of wedding trip to India as a paid lady's companion.. There they meet up the husband's half brother Oliver who is a Zemindar of a vast estate called Hassanganj. Cutting a looooong story of 763 pages short, they get caught up in the Sepoy rebellion and seige of Lucknow.As the inside jacket concludes, Laura is forced to confront her own divided loyalties and her own mutinous heart.

If youve read M.M.Kaye's "Shadow of the Moon", Zemindar is very similar in that they are both set during the same time period, although SOTM takes place outside the residency and Zemindar is 'under siege' at Lucknow. Aside from the actual rebellion which they hold in common you will also recognize a pregnancy during a time of trouble and a milch goat.

I particularly enjoyed the journey and days of Hassanganj. It was a feast for the eyes and senses and I could imagine just what it was like (based on a real mansion which still apparently exists) and how it functioned like its own city.I also appreciated seeing things from the "native side" and feeling what they may have felt during this time of upheaval.The characters are all fully drawn and real.

So I really enjoyed this book but my only problem with it was that I have a hard time "sitting still" in a book. I want to be doing something, going somewhere, seeing something. But once you hit the halfway mark in the book, be prepared to sit still; for over 250 pages of the book we are under siege and nothing really changes. People die, food gets scarcer,life becomes over all very stinky indeed and still we wait...and wait...and wait.

The author did an awesome job of portraying the insane boredom and fear of the siege but I was rather glad to be done with it.Here's one thing I would have liked done differently:

While we are "sitting out the siege" at Lucknow, Oliver is having a rather disturbing and bloody adventure at Cawnpore. But we arent "sent to the where the action is" we have to wait for him to return and TELL us which isn't nearly as powerful as SEEING it. That was frustrating. But it's still a good book, and deserves a rightful place among my favorite epics.

Bottom Line: 5 Star story, 4 star enjoyment level.

CONTENT:
SEX: Behind closed doors, very mild romance level (a few kisses)
LANGUAGE: Mild
VIOLENCE: The violence is mostly "after the fact" as carnage but can be gruesome. Such is true life.
PARANORMAL ELEMENTS: None

MY RATING: PG-13 (for disturbing imagery).