The Veil of Illusion: A Novel - Hardcover

Ryman, Rebecca

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 031213200X ISBN 13: 9780312132002

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1995

Synopsis

Set in nineteenth-century India, a novel examines the repercussions of romance between Maya Raventhorne, daughter of a bitter half-caste who is presumed dead, and Christian Pendleton, the naive son of an English official with a secret past. 35,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Set primarily in Calcutta in the 1870s, this lush, involving sequel to Olivia and Jai chronicles the efforts of the widowed Englishwoman Olivia Raventhorne to restore the tarnished reputation of her beloved Eurasian husband, Jai, who has been branded a traitor because of his alleged involvement in the infamous Bibighar massacre of 1857, during which 200 European women and children were slaughtered. Entwined with the story of Olivia's quest is that of the ill-starred romance between her ravishing daughter, Maya, and the wealthy young Englishman Christian Pendlebury, son of a ruthless and sophisticated British official. Like the rest of proper colonial society, Sir Jasper Pendlebury has severe doubts about Maya, despite her immense wealth and impeccable taste, because of her mixed heritage and her father's reputation. Meanwhile, prominent among a tangle of subplots are the calculated machinations of firebrand newspaper editor Kyle Hawkesworth, and a feud between Olivia's two sons. Throughout, the characters are drawn boldly, if simply, and the action is narrated in fancifully overblown prose: "It seemed ironic that so simple an epitaph and so modest a grave in this tranquil niche of some distant, undisturbed forest should mark the passing of a life as complex and turbulent as that of Jai Raventhorne." After many emotional cliffhangers, each character gets precisely what he or she deserves in a series of contrived, though satisfying, resolutions. It's easy enough to root for underdogs as romantic and put-upon as the dashing Raventhornes?so most readers will be pleased to find that Ryman has left plenty of room for another installment in that family's turbulent history.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

From the pseudonymous Indian author of Olivia and Jai (LJ 8/90) comes another romantic epic set in 19th-century India. The first printing is 45,000 copies.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 031213200X
• ISBN 13: 9780312132002
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 632