History books give the official facts of the ruling of colonial India by governors-general and viceroys, but this book dives into the letters and diaries of four women married or related to those governors. Emily Eden went to India in 1836 with her brother, Lord Auckland, Charlotte Canning went with her husband, Viscount Charles Canning in 1856, Edith Lyttleton with her husband, Lord Lyttleton in 1876, and Mary Curzon (an American by birth) with her husband, Lord Curzon of Kedelston in 1898.

The lives described by these women reflect the gradual development if a stiff formality and eventual standoffish attitude of the English rulers in India towards the people they governed. Each woman was profoundly affected by her life in India. The book is a good introduction to the four women, and how India changed under her Colonial masters.

This is an excellent history book and Marian Fowler is an excellent historian. The life of British women in India may not be of particular interest to Americans but it is an important part of British history in India. At first it might seem that their lives were nothing but luxury, given the treatment and living conditions of their many Indian servants. They were however witnesses and actual participants in history. The death rate for the British was high particularly for children. They often lived in dangerous locations. They were unsuited to the climate and its stifling heat.
This is a very readable and entertaining book. ( )

Marian Fowler writes in her inimitable readable style but this book is only for those most interested in British Raj history. She covers the biographies of five Vicereines whose time in India, spanning several decades, reflect on changing attitudes of the Raj to its final inflexible form. Some of them suffered terribly, unprepared for the culture shock and the climate and paid with their lives. There is not much mention of jewelry considering the fabulous gemstones that the Vicereines would have seen on Indian Royalty. ( )