Nordic Noir set in BERGEN
Dual timeline novel set in KASHMIR (modern day and WW2)
26th February 2025
The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas, dual timeline novel set in Kashmir.
I was recently travelling thought Northern India and this novel fitted the bill for me. There was history – at both a political and social level – that set the backdrop for this engaging story.
In present day Mair is in Wales helping to pack up her family home now that both parents have passed away and she, together with her siblings, discovers a beautiful if somewhat faded shawl, plus a lock of hair. Both seemingly belonged to their grandmother.
She is currently uncommitted on several fronts and decides to head for Kashmir, Leh as her starting point and then on to Srinagar. She is totally out of her comfort zone but feels driven to delve into her family’s history because her grandparents, in their younger years, had strong links in the area. And she so wants to find out the story behind the two items they discovered.
A couple of years before WW2 was declared, Nerys (the grandmother) accompanies her husband to India. He is a Welsh Presbyterian missionary and, unlike her, he is fully engrossed in the cause. She is there to support him and she sets up a small school which occupies her time. He is soon called away and after a serendipitous meeting with a stylish and exuberant woman called Myrtle, Nerys joins her on her houseboat, anchored in the Lake in Srinagar. (Foreigners couldn’t buy property but they could work their way around this ruling by purchasing a boat on the lake and then living on it). There she enters the world of the British Raj, while the storm clouds are gathering. All the merriment and socialising continues until the men are called to war. And whilst the men are away, the women have their own problems to address.
Mair teams up with a small family and unbeknownst to her there is a kind of synchronicity between now and then. There is trauma and tragedy, love and desire liberally woven through the text.
I really enjoyed reading this novel, it is incredibly strong on locations and history, and feels well researched. It proved particularly enjoyable having a day’s sight-seeing and then returning home to continue reading the book, which built on the day’s experiences and added just another context full of life and character. It has a good, textured quality to it that ran through both storylines and I really wanted to see how everything would pan out.
I didn’t particularly like the acrobatic/juggling element – the narrative was strong enough without these slightly fanciful angles, which were used in many ways to drive the story forward – the much stronger thrust of the two women’s stories held my attention. The writing is stylish and engaging.
I was recently reading an article about travel souvenirs via BBC Travel and shawls from Leh had a mention:
“In the Leh market [in Kashmir, India], about 95% of fabrics sold as pashmina aren’t genuine,” says Sonam Angmo, co-founder of Lena Ladakh Pashmina, a slow textile brand focused on preserving the pashmina legacy while supporting local artisans. “[The fake fabric] is mass-produced in places like Ludhiana and Punjab then brought to Ladakh by outsiders.”
A genuine pashmina shawl can cost upwards of 30,000 rupees (£280) due to the effort of raising goats in harsh climates and handcrafting the shawls. But for many travellers, this price is out of reach. As a result, some shops sell imitation shawls for 3,000-5,000 rupees (£27.4-£45.7), with most customers simply seeking a pashmina “bought in Ladakh” and giving little regard to its origins.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
Join team TripFiction on Social Media:
Twitter (@TripFiction), Facebook (@TripFiction.Literarywanderlust), YouTube (TripFiction #Literarywanderlust), Instagram (@TripFiction) and Pinterest (@TripFiction) and BlueSky(tripfiction.bsky.social) and Threads (@tripfiction)
Please wait...
