I really didn't know anything about Isabel Richards and thought this was a great introduction and had that nonfiction element that I was looking for. Sarah King was able to bring these people to life through Isabel's letters and diaries and enjoyed the learning about this family.

Isabel Richards became a member of the upper echelons of the British Raj government in 1904 when her husband was appointed to the Viceroy’s Council. This is the story of their stay in India, charmingly depicted through around 500 letters sent to their family back in England.

How starchily formal, ultra-hierarchical, restrictive, repetitive and, despite all the entertainment laid on, boring it must have all been. Their lives were a never-stopping carousel of dinners and invitations, counter-invitations and garden parties, dances and concerts with the stifling constraints of dress code and etiquette. Waited on hand and foot by an army of “natives” and seemingly oblivious to the country they lived in, cocooned in their tight bubble of the British Raj system, it must have been an experience that, while sounding interesting, seems altogether alien to us today.

I stopped and started at the lengthy mis-en-scène at the beginning of the book with swathes of family and historical detail, with connections to many different families - my fault entirely for being impatient - but once the tales of family life in India started I was eager to follow.

For a visual on British life in the hilltown of Simla, albeit set at a later date, I recommend the excellent 2015 TV series “Indian Summers”.