Everyone involved wants him to become a card-carrying member of the stiff-upper-lip highbrow British society, with just enough retained knowledge of Indian languages and culture to make him useful to the British army.Īsh is a mix of both East and West, which is uncomfortable for both himself and everyone around him. When his adoptive mother is dying when he is about 11 years old, she finally tells him that he is British, not Indian, and soon Ash is packed off to England to get an education and develop this part of his heritage. He's orphaned at a very young age and, for various reasons, ends up being unofficially adopted by an Indian widow, who calls him 'Ashok' and keeps him as they travel to northern India, in sight of the mystical Himalayan mountains, which young Ash worshipfully calls the 'Far Pavilions':Īsh's formative years are spent immersed in Indian culture. Ashton Pelham-Martyn is the son of an English professor and explorer of India. This story takes place in India during the mid-1800s, when the British controlled India as part of their far-flung empire. But I've put this off for too long already and so we'll all just have to be satisfied with a less impressive but more manageable review.

I've been putting off writing a review for The Far Pavilions because it's so complex and epic that I feel like I can't do it justice without writing an equally epic review. Kaye was awarded the Colonel James Tod International Award by the Maharana Mewar Foundation of Udaipur, Rajasthan, for her 'contribution of permanent value reflecting the spirit and values of Mewar'. Her autobiography has been published in three volumes, collectively entitled Share of Summer: The Sun in the Morning, Golden Afternoon, and Enchanted Evening. She also wrote and illustrated The Ordinary Princess, a children's book and authored a dozen detective novels, including Death in Kashmir and Death in Zanzibar.

This was followed by Shadow of the Moon and Trade Wind. Kaye won worldwide fame for The Far Pavilions, which became a worldwide best-seller on publication in 1978. Kaye followed the drum to Kenya, Zanzibar, Egypt, Cyprus and Germany. After India's independence, her husband, Major-General Goff Hamilton of Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides (the famous Indian Army regiment featured in The Far Pavilions), joined the British Army and for the next nineteen years M. Her family ties with the country are strong: her grandfather, father, brother and husband all served the British Raj. Kaye (Mary Margaret) was born in India and spent her early childhood and much of her early-married life there.

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