The India Fan, Victoria Holt (1988/2013)

Book Source: Net Galley

This was one of the last novels written by Eleanor Hibbert, better known as Victoria Holt, Jean Plaidy, and Philippa Carr.  This extraordinarily prolific writer, who according to this excellent page, jeanplaidy, wrote about 211 books in her lifetime under all her pseudonyms and sold more than 100 million books worldwide, including 23 bestsellers.  The India Fan was originally published in 1988, but it is now being reissued by Sourcebooks Casablanca, so kudos to them for bring back these wonderful stories!

So far, I've read only some of her books under the pseudonym Victoria Holt, including The Landower Legacy, which I have already reviewed, and others like: Mistress of Mellyn, On the Night of the Seventh Moon, Kirkland Revels, and The Mask of the Enchantress (many years ago), which I have yet to write reviews for.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but there is a similarity between Holt's style of writing and that of Madeleine Brent (Peter O'Donnell).  

• The heroines are always English girls who travel to foreign, exotic countries where they experience life changing events before returning to their native home.  
• They often have two or more possible lovers to choose from, including one that has a 'darker' and more dangerous personality, making the heroine doubt her feelings for him, and another who is just so nice that the heroine isn't interested.
• She also seems detached from many of the happenings that surround her, living in a dream-like state.
• They are often sensible girls, principally due to their difficult childhood and/or forced independence.  
• Oftentimes they are orphans.

Anyway, on to the story.

The India Fan was such a terrific and gripping tale that I couldn’t put down until I had finished it!  To be honest, it did start in a somewhat bland tone (as the usual VH), however as the story progressed, it became much more engrossing. 

The whole book revolves around beautiful peacock feathers, the Framling family, and India. 

Drusilla Delaney is the daughter of the town rector and since she was a child, she was basically forced to be friends with the gorgeous, but extremely superficial, empty-headed Lavinia Framling. Lavinia’s mother, the formidable Lady Harriet, wanted someone sensible to be with her daughter who was always getting into scrapes, particularly with the opposite sex.  They shared a governess, went to school together, then to a French finishing school (where Lavinia really got in trouble), and then returned home. 

Meanwhile, Lavinia’s brother, Fabian, was always in the background, coming and going from school with his friend, Dougal Carruthers, who later on became an Earl.  Fabian is the one who made Drusilla take the Indian peacock fan when they were young children, which is linked to the Framling family curse.  

Drusilla is fascinated by Fabian from the very beginning (since they were children), although she doesn’t really admit it until about ¾ into the story.  She also shows interest in Dougal, and he does too, but it all changes when he becomes and earl and his attention is swayed by someone else (yup, Lavinia), even though they don’t have much in common. 

Fabian and Dougal both travel to India for a few years as they have interests in the East India Company, then Drusilla is summoned by Lavinia to accompany her there.  Lavinia views it all as an adventure and is really excited to go, until the ‘adventure’ basically becomes a living nightmare.

Victoria Holt brought to life the customs and beliefs of India during this time of struggle (mid 1850’s) very vividly.  She chose to concentrate on a more somber aspect of tradition and on its deadly consequences, both for the natives and for the English. 

The historical facts described were extremely interesting to read about, especially how much they had to travel in those times to go from Great Britain to their faraway kingdom of India.  It brings to mind that the men, but especially the women, must have been very audacious to head on to an unknown land from which they had no idea if they would return alive.

As for the characters in the novel, the sexual undercurrent between Drusilla and Fabian stood out and was written quite intensely.  The reader could FEEL how much they were attracted to each other, wanted each other, but for whatever reason couldn’t be together, which created more angst. 

This novel is filled with the mystery, curses, murders, seductions, violence, and love… so how can it not be great reading?  

The India Fan
Reviewed by Romina on Mar 25 2013
Rating: 3.5