{"product_id":"the-fishing-fleet-husbandhunting-in-the-raj-9780753828960","title":"The Fishing Fleet HusbandHunting in the Raj","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe adventurous young women who sailed to India during the Raj in search of husbands. Perfect for fans of SINGLED OUT - a great book club option.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnne de Courcy's history is a sparkling collage of stories and quotations in which we hear the authentic voices of the women and girls she portrays, most of them natural, unaffected writers with sharp eyes, a gift for description and a sense of humour. This book is brilliantly researched, and full of delights. * THE DAILY TELEGRAPH *\u003cbr\u003eAnne De Courcy combines the perseverance of a social historian with the panache of a novelist in her tales from the Raj. * THE TIMES *\u003cbr\u003eThe Fishing Fleet is an entertaining, richly detailed account of a world that vanished overnight in 1947 with independence. De Courcy revels in the details of durbars, tiger hunts, maharajahs dripping with jewels, but also reveals how life in the jewel of the crown could be as desperate as it was glittering -- Daisy Goodwin * THE SUNDAY TIMES *\u003cbr\u003eThis is a fine picture of a lost world -- JAD ADAMS * THE GUARDIAN *\u003cbr\u003eThis sparkling collage explores the lives of the English girls who came to colonial India to hook themselves a spouse, and draws intriguing parallels between India and British social attitudes. * THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *\u003cbr\u003eWhat this brilliantly researched book, using  letters and diaries, reveals is that for many of the brightest and most  attractive girls, the experience was thrilling and liberating - one girl writes  how she went dancing 26 nights in a row, another had dates with eight different  men in as many nights. For others, the experience was humiliating as, failing to  land a man, they sailed home labelled  'Returned Empties'. Once married, the women showed  extraordinary grit and strength as, unless they bagged top men in the prime city  locations, the life could be lonely, hard and thankless.  A wonderful slice of  history -- Sally Morris * DAILY MAIL *\u003cbr\u003eRecommended as an absorbing read. * HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW *","brand":"Orion Publishing Co","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48737093058903,"sku":"9780753828960","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780753828960.jpg?v=1723810958","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-fishing-fleet-husbandhunting-in-the-raj-9780753828960","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}