Skip to main content

#BlogTour of 1857: Dust of Ages by Vandana Shanker


1857: Dust of Ages

1857. The rebellion erupts in India. Despite its attempts to stay aloof, NAVGARH, a small town near Delhi, is drawn into the conflagration. And at its heart are Princess Meera and Captain Richard Smith, with their strange alliance made for the throne of Navgarh.

2016. Shiv Sahai, a young Indian art historian and Ruth Aiken, a British scholar discover an excerpt from the journal of an anonymous British soldier, searching for his wife in the chaos of 1857 Delhi. As they begin investigating the scandal, they become aware of the vague rumours that are told in the bylanes of Navgarh -- about a princess who married a British soldier to save her kingdom.



My Review

A well written historical fiction novel is difficult to pull off. Not only do you need to get your facts right, you need to tell a story that is compelling. 

So when I came across Vandana Shanker's 1857: Dust of Ages I was intrigued. Not often do you come across a romance story that is set in the tumultuous times of India's First Independence War.

Full marks to the author for exploring these dramatic times. The story of Captain Smith and Princess Meera set against the backdrop of the Sepoy Mutiny unfolds when in 2016 Shiv Sahai discovers an old document in his family haveli. Intrigued by the letter he digs deeper into his family history.

The layers are peeled away and you get a glimpse into the 1850's and the fascinating story of a royal family caught up in the politics of the time.

It's a fascinating read and I look forward to reading the next part of the story.
About the Author: Vandana Shanker 


Delhi-born Vandana Shanker is the author of the series 1857 Dust of Ages, a historical fiction set in the year of the great uprising in India. A Ph.D from IIT Delhi, Vandana is passionate about history, storytelling and art. Apart from writing, she teaches literature and creative writing in Malaysia. She has also taught in universities in India and Vietnam. She currently lives in Kuala Lumpur with her family and wants to travel the world.  

Connect with her on: Website,  Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads

Blog Tour Hosted by: TBC Blog Tours
Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous4 April 2017 at 12:58

    Nice to read this.Thank you so much for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Niche Markets in Romance Writing

Welcome to Week N of Authors' Tips: A to Z of Writing. If this is the first time you are visiting this series, here's a quick recap. Authors share their tips on writing fiction - and each week we talk about various aspects of writing. This week it's time to take a closer look at Niche Markets  A few weeks ago I'd posted about the importance of knowing your Genre as it helps readers to discover your books. A genre like Romance -- which incidentally is the top selling category -- has more than 100-plus sub-categories. These are often called 'niches', a marketing jargon for specialist sub-categories. While some of the more popular ones like romantic suspense, chicklit, paranormal romance, historical romance, etc. are evergreen favourites, as reading preferences evolve, new niches emerge from time to time. For instance, a few years back the super-duper success of E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey sparked off a new niche of BDSM within the sub-genre ...
7 comments
Read more

How to Motivate your Writer Self & your Novel's Characters - Part 1

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do." -- Leonardo da Vinci Writers need to be self-starters. The act of finding an idea, developing it, putting it through its paces to make sure there is enough meat and material to turn it into a certain length requires an enormous amount of motivation. More so, because there is no tangible gain: no promise of a fat advance for your manuscript and no guarantee that your indie book will sell millions of copies. That itself is a huge barrier to writing. The delicious irony of being a writer is that the act of writing a piece of fiction also involves creating characters that have 'motivation'. Without motivation, your characters will not have enough juice to power your novel's plot. So, as a writer you are doing double duty -- motivating yourself and finding some for your characters. It would be great if you could find a bottle of that wonderful ingredient called Motivation in a store...
12 comments
Read more

Interview with Bollywood Screenwriter Pubali Chaudhuri

This interview with Pubali Chaudhuri was done a while back but am re-posting it as it is a one-of-a-kind interview that discusses the craft and business of screenwriting.... Enjoy!  Pubali Chaudhuri is a Bollywood screenwriter who has had two of her scripts turned into blockbuster Bollywood films. Rock On! , a movie about four friends who reunite to relive their moments of glory as a rock band, which released in 2008 was Pubali’s debut screenwriting effort for the Hindi film industry. This was followed by Kai Po Che four years later and was directed by Abhishek Kapoor who had helmed Rock On! as well. Like Rock On!, KPC is a story about friends but the tone, mood and feel of the film is totally different. It tells the tale of three friends, Ishaan, Omi and Govind who start a training academy to produce the country’s next cricket stars. Adapted from Chetan Bhagat’s novel 3 Mistakes of My Life, the story is set in Gujarat during the turbulent times of the Godhra riots...
6 comments
Read more