In a year when there are many historical novels about World War I and its repercussions, Kamila Shamsie’s latest book stands out for several reasons. One is the high quality of Shamsie’s writing. Another is that the focus is very different – not just the fighting in Western Europe or the home front, but the impact of the war, and its aftermath, way beyond Europe, specifically in the area of British-ruled India around Peshawar (some years before Partition and the creation of Pakistan as a separate country). Shamsie is from Pakistan but has lived in Britain for the last few years, and so this isn’t just a historical novel written by a Westerner and set somewhere exotic – I do enjoy some of those but it’s interesting to read something with more substance.
On a trip to an ancient archaeological site in Turkey in summer 1914, Vivian begins to look at a family friend in a new light. Her friendship with Tahsin Bey seems to be developing into an unspoken romantic understanding. Then the travellers receive news of the war in Europe, and Vivian has a telegram from her father – she must find a way to travel home immediately, with just a whispered promise from Tahsin Bey: “When the war ends, Vivian Rose”. Back in London she works as a VAD (volunteer nurse) for a few months, before setting off to Peshawar to see an ancient archaeological treasure, and hoping to meet Tahsin Bey.
There is plenty to explore there, but there is also simmering conflict between Indian nationalist aspirations and the repressive society of the British in India – the British take a dim view of a young woman wanting to lead archaeological expeditions with the local Pathan people. She returns to London but not before forming a lasting friendship.
Qaayum Gul is one of many Indian men who fought in Europe, and this novel is as much his story as Viv’s. They meet on the train to Peshawar in 1915, and then again in 1930 when Vivian returns.
World War I was a war which affected the whole world, in an era when so much of Asia and Africa was divided up between European powers and precarious empires. There is so much new to me historical background here that it gave me a whole list of things – places, events etc – I needed to look up. Shamsie doesn't lay everything out as chunks of fact that can really interfere with some historical novels, but her book is clearly informed by historical research and perspectives.
A fascinating and thought provoking story – this is the first Kamila Shamsie book I’ve read but I really must get to all her previous books very very soon.
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