One Last Look

Susanna Moore's latest book, One Last Look, is a work of historical fiction, a genre I generally avoid like the plague. If I had avoided it I would have missed a wonderful reading experience. Moore has set this novel in India in the 1830's. Eleanor and Harriet Oliphant accompany their brother, Henry (with whom Eleanor has a complicated relationship), who has been appointed Governor General of the colony. It is Eleanor's voice telling the story through her diary.
Their voyage to India is long and rough; one gets seasick reading about it. The family arrives at their new home where their every need is met by a legion of native servants. At one point Eleanor almost loses the power to walk because she is carried about, seldom setting her satin slippered feet to ground. She and Harriet are clothed in the finest gowns and shoes from England, Moore's descriptions of the outfits are beautifully descriptive. The women receive luxurious gifts from rajahs and dignitaries. They make pets of deer, gazelles and flying squirrels and also have their own private zoo. There are balls and tableaux vivants but life is not all a bed of roses for the Oliphant siblings. The climate is oppressive with smothering heat and monsoons. Their social life is rigidly arranged and they are obliged to spend time with folks they wouldn't have given the time of day to back in England. Disease, insects, death and loss are pervasive. Henry faces tremendous challenges in his role as GG and is ultimately, after a lengthy and arduous trek across the country with an entourage of 12,000 during which he makes some fatal political decisions, proven to be unfit for the job.
Moore draws on the written materials of real life sisters Emily and Fanny Eden, who accompanied their brother George when he was sent to Calcutta as Governor General in 1836, and also on Fannie Parks, the wife of a civil servant. This story of the grandeur and the squalor of India rings absolutely true. Moore's sensually evocative writing presents us with a very real colonial India, one which we can see, smell and taste.
This book is a chronology of the metamorphosis the characters undergo as a result of their immersion in the tumultuous cauldron that is colonial India. The Oliphants who leave India in 1842 are a far cry from the three who arrived in 1836.
This a beautiful, elegant and informative book and I'm glad I read it.