Passion India

What an amazing wealth of British and Indian (pre 1947) history. What a rich texture Moro builds into the real life story of beautiful Spanish dancer and the maharaja she marries as a fifth wife. Truly a story that stays with you of the exotic time and place in which she lived.

In spite of the title more suited to a Romance novel, the book is a historical narrative based on the real story of a ruling Prince of India in the latter part of the XIX century, who meets a young Spanish dancer while attending the wedding of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and falls madly in love. Moro brings alive the incredible wealth that the ruling princes enjoyed during the Raj, the prevailing customs in India and the complicated social and political relationship between the English officialdom and the Indian nobility. His description of the way of life in India with its harsh cast system, its dilettante nobility and the Victorian morals of the English rulers, provides a virtual gate to life at the time.