Vicereine: The Indian Journal of Mary Minto - Hardcover

9789332703278: Vicereine: The Indian Journal of Mary Minto

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9332703272 ISBN 13: 9789332703278

Publisher: Academic Foundation, 2016

Mary Minto was a woman of her times. Some of her opinions would make contemporary feminists, egalitarians of all sorts, gasp in horror but her extraordinary charm and passion for life, her sense of humor and sharp eye and ear for place, person and dialogue make her irresistible. The people she met, the sights she saw and wrote of from her ringside position are part of all our histories most deliciously described in her journal. Even Lord Kitchener, stiff image on a poster, comes to improbable life playing parlor games at Simla and winning, to general hilarity, a baby elephant at the Minto Fete. There is so much more maharajas, palaces, tigers and bears, pet dogs, Afghanistan and Burma, kings, queens and princes, a vast brigade of servants... this is a vivid slideshow of a particular life in India at the beginning of a century of change illustrated with previously unseen photographs...riches indeed.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Anabel Loyd has lived and worked in India and is a constant visitor to the sub-continent from the UK. She is fascinated by Indian history and culture with a particular interest in the first half of the 20th century leading at last to Independence. She writes a regular column for the Indian Telegraph on British current events with occasional excursions in other directions. When she read Mary Minto s journal over a wet weekend in the Scottish Borders, it was at first with fellow feeling for another mother of five who further suffered corsets and complicated Edwardian clothes whatever the Calcutta heat. There proved to be far more to Mary than minor domestic irritations and Anabel has greatly enjoyed her company, however gaspingly reactionary some of her opinions appear today.

Review:

"I have read Mary Minto's journals with enormous pleasure. She has a wonderfully keen eye for the telling detail and a great deal of her Indian story is entirely new to me, the journal is immensely readable." - Philip Ziegler British biographer and historian; recent works include the biography of Laurence Olivier. --By a customer on 18 FEB 2017

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.