The Far Pavilions

This book is beautifully written - it draws you into it from the first chapter, and is incredibly difficult to put down!! The depth of understanding of the times and places in India is exceptional. I was transported in time and space as I read it, and the memories of the culture will remain with me forever. A magnificent read!!

A true epic adventure story with romance included. A young man of mixed race makes his way in the British military forces during the time of the Raj in India. If this era of history interests you, this big story in the shadow of the Himalayas will definitely keep your interest. Great big story of adventure, forbidden love, cruelty and heroism, passion and triumph. I loved it.

I was required to read this book several years ago in college. It's very thick and I wasn't looking forward to it at the time - turned out to be one of the best books I've ever read. I love historical fiction and this book has everything - history, adventure, romance, great storytelling.

A very long historically based book that is well written but avoids being heavy even if colonial India is not of particular interest. Difficult to put down, very exciting and at times tear inducing.

This is without doubt one of the best books I have ever read... and judging by the other reviews I'm not the first to feel this way. I was completeoy transported to the time and place of the story, I fell in love wioth Ash, I lived though all Anjuli's agonies. It's one of those books that live forever in your heart. The characters simply walk off the page and into your life, and when its over you grieve for them. I have read it three times. Generally I love books set in India and read them all, but they are of variable quality. Kaye's "Shadow of the Moon" is almost, but not quite, as good. Another novel with "Far Pavillions" effect is "Of Marriageable Age" by Sharon Maas, a love story to die for!

This book is at once a sweeping romance, a gripping adventure story, and a tale about identity and belonging. I just love it, and re-read it regularly. M M Kaye is simply the most marvellous story teller, and her descriptions of India are breath-taking too.It is the story of Ashton/Ashok - an English boy brought up by a peripatetic father in the foothills of the Himalayas - he is about 6 years old when cholera strikes the camp and kills everyone but himself and his nurse. She takes him down into India to give him back to the safety of the English - but this is 1857 and India is in mutiny against the English. Ash, having been brought up amongst Indians can speak their languages fluently, and he is the right colouring to pass as one of the races from the North where they are paler. So his nurse escapes from the troubles with him and brings him up as her own son. This sets the stage for many of his later problems, the key one being that of his identity - for when he must later seek safety with the English and his true birth is revealed he finds it difficult to know who he truly is for he is at once Indian and English. While a boy Ash meets Anjuli, a princess in the court where he is working. She is the daughter of an Indian/Russian mother - and because of her birth, and her mother's death in the court, she is also never really properly accepted.MM Kaye sets this story against the grand displays of Indian courts, the British army (which Ashton later joins to return to India), teeming bazaars, and the different cultures and religions of India.Its an enormous book to get through but it is well worth pretty much every page. I've never been one for long descriptions of war, and the scenes of the siege in Afghanistan towards the end I always find a bit of a trial. That is really such a small piece of the whole novel for most of it Ash and later Anjuli too, try to work out who they are and how they fit into India, or perhaps England. Their relationships and identities are tested against their friends who enter their lives and for various reasons leave them again. It is at once incredibly tragic and wonderfully romantic. I fell in love with India the first time I read this book and subsequent readings haven't changed my opinion. MM Kaye wrote two other real epics. Shadow of the Moon which I also really love, although it is a bit more romantic than this one - and Trade Winds which is set in Zanzibar as I remember - but the heroine in that just doesn't gel for me. The Far Pavillions is simply the best epic novel ever written (I think)

I read this book first when I was 15, and it has got to be one of the best that has ever been written. The honesty, love and wonderment with which M.M. Kaye writes about India is magnificent. The characters of Ashton and Anjuli are unforgettable, and more than just magical - there is too much pain, anguish and struggle for that. It can leave you shaken as well as elated at times! This book, its characters and the whole experience is something I would wish everyone, who loves reading, share and enjoy. I promise you that it will stay with you for the rest of your life.