Under the Jewelled Sky by Alison McQueen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a beautiful book! Set in India, during the Partition, Under the Jewelled Sky is about Sophie, the daughter of a British doctor and Jag, the son of the Maharajah’s bearer. A love that was not supposed to happen.
Life in the palace was boring for Sophie until she found a secret door. Behind the door, she also found Jag, who would show her all the secret passageways in the palace and become her friend, confidant, and eventually, her lover.
Palace scuttlebutt caught up to the two and Jag’s father, horribly ashamed, leaves the employ of the Maharajah and heads to his family’s home. There is much death and destruction along the way, traveling by foot and living in camps. The father doesn’t make it.
Sophie’s parents are equally horrified and her mother beats her. While Sophie is sent to a home where she can have the baby and give it up, her mother goes back to England, unable to stand what her life has become.
Aterwards, Sophie goes back to England and eventually marries a diplomat and they are sent to India. The story takes us through the lives of Sophie who never stops loving Jag, and Jag’s endless searching for Sophie.
A beautiful, but sad story. I didn’t want it to end.