**This is taken from the back of the book, and from the inside cover, which contains comments about "The Far Pavilions". My review follows. **
We all remember certain sweeping novels we hated to see come to an end; it was almost like breaking up with someone we love. You will feel that way about The Far Pavilions. From the foothills of the Himalayas, through the palaces of the exotic East, this novel is a passionate and triumphant story that excites us, fills us with joy, moves us to tears, and helps us remember just what we want most from a novel. It is a mesmerizing story of hatred and bitter combat; of courage, and human sacrifice, of the star-crossed wedding of East and west. Above all, it is a tale of love. The story of Ash, an Englishman, and Juli, a princess who must choose between the heritage of her people and the man she loves. It is a story that transcends time and place, a monumental epic we will never forget.
SOME REVIEWS FOR THE FAR PAVILIONS:
'Pulsating, Heartbreaking . . . A narrative thoroughbred sired by Shogun, out of The Thorn Birds . . . Other than Gone With the Wind, I can think of no other historical novel with such stunning narrative tempo.'
~Philadelphia Inquirer
'Peopled with vitally realized characters . . . The immense scope of The Far Pavilions makes it an enthralling book.'
~Wall Street Journal
'A gleaming tapestry . . . Historic drama interwoven with high romance . . . gives the reader a sense of being caught up in the fabric of another time, with the bonus of having ana informed insider's viewpoint . . . This novel, with its unabashed vigor, has genuine power.'
~Washington Post Book World
'This novel presents a world . . . A world of brilliant color and dark shadows, a world of valor and treachery, a world of good and evil . . . You will miss a tremendous experience if you fail to read it. This is a colossal novel, not just in length but in breadth and depth. It is one of the true Big Ones.'
~Cleveland Plain Dealer
'A splendid achievement -- that rare and desirable combination of storytelling and totally absorbing research . . . One of the finest novels I have read in years.'
~Helen Van Slyke
'Fabulous, enchanting, action-packed . . . Like Scheherezade's tales of a thousand and one nights, one wishes it would never end . . . filled with beauty, horror, sorrow and great excitement.'
~St. Louis Post-Dispatch
My Review
This story has a very complicated plot. You won't think so when you read it, but if you do read it and someone asks you to tell them about it . . . what do you do?
Well, I will try as best I can to give you an idea about how splendid this book really is, but I think I should fail and not catch the real essence of The Far Pavilions. This is going to be rather long, since the book is 1190 pgs.
The book starts with the birth of Ashton Hilary Akbar Pelham-Martyn in a camp near the crest of a pass in the Himalayas. His mother had a hard birth, so he was taken by Sita, who had lost her own child a short time before. She was an Indian woman, his nurse. His mother, Isobel, who passed on her grey eyes and dark hair and skin to her son, died shortly after, and was buried near a boulder marked with her name.
Soon after, cholera was introduced to the camp by a small party of pilgrims, and everyone else in the camp except little Ash and Sita died. Before he died, Ash's father had written notes and given her money, telling her to take his son to his own people. Sita could not read English, so she did not know what the letter contained, but she held onto it, and the money, being superstitious and thinking that if she destroyed them that he would haunt her. But she did not want to give up Ash, who she had loved from the hour of his birth. She fled with him, and raised him as her own son.
Ash grew thinking Sita as his mother, and became a horse boy in the village where he lived. They lived in a small room together, and were poor, but happy. One day, Ash was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and thus his troubles came about.
The child Ash was watching a parade where the heir to the throne was riding. Suddenly, when he was going underneath a stone archway (or something like that -- I am doing this from memory) a stone slipped (pushed?) and Ash knocked the Prince clear.
After saving the Prince, Ash was told he had to go and work at the Palace. The prince believed that with Ash close to him that no harm would come of him. And it was at the Palace that Ash met Anjuli-Bai, a half-caste princess. She was a plain child, six or so, who followed him around like a devoted puppy. He called her Juli, and she spent many happy hours with Sita and Ash. Sita would tell her stories and be kind to her. No one liked the princess much. She was not beautiful, and she was not wholly Indian - her mother had come from Russia. (Thank you Kpish for correcting me!)
Ash was branded one day. The prince was playing with Ash's pet mongoose, and it bit him. The prince ordered that the creature be destroyed. Ash was upset, and dared lay hands on His Royal Highness. The barrel of a gun was heated up, and pressed to his bare chest. Ash winced at the pain, and the scar that healed was a half moon. This scar was important . . .
Ash spoils several more attempts to kill the prince, and the assassins turn to him and try and kill him instead. He must flee with Sita, far, far away if he is to live. Anjuli-Bai is upset by the parting of her only friend. The night when he is to be lowered over the palace wall, she shows up and gives him her most prized possession -- a mother-of-pearl fish strung on a piece of silk. Ash breaks it in half, and gives one half back to Juli. He tells her that someday they would meet again, and then they would put it back together.
Sita dies, and Ash finds out he is really an Englishman. His father was part of the Guides (which is an army-type thing, not Girl Guides) so he is sent to England for training so he may join it too and become a soldier. It is a hard step for Ash, Sita's boy, to become Ashton Hilary Akbar Pelham-Martyn, and I'll just say he doesn't like it.
When he becomes a soldier (and don't worry, I am almost through) he is instructed to lead a wedding party (with two brides - sisters) to their betrothed in a far away land. There, he finds one of the brides is Juli, who is now grown up and beautiful. He falls in love with her, but she does not know it is him. She loved with childish devotion Sita's son, and this was a Feringhi (foreigner) Captain Pelham-Martyn. But one day, he says offhandedly, "Your Highness has dropped something. This is yours, I think?" He holds out his half of the fish. Anjuli-Bai takes it as her own half and thanks him for it, but then realizes her own half is still around her neck . . .
There is MUCH more, but I do not want to spoil it. I urge you to read this book!! It is wonderful and it made me cry more than once. The ending is SO sad, yet so happy, you just want to sob and sob . . .
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