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Teatime for the Firefly

Tekijä: Shona Patel

JäseniäKirja-arvostelujaSuosituimmuussijaKeskimääräinen arvioMaininnat
15118179,639 (3.85)15
Fiction. Literature. HTML:For fans of Alka Joshi's The Henna Artist, comes a compelling love story set against a culture grounded in tradition, about to be changed forever in the onslaught of WWII.
My name is Layla and I was born under an unlucky star. For a young girl growing up in India, this is bad news. But everything began to change for me one spring day in 1943, when three unconnected incidents, like tiny droplets on a lily leaf, tipped and rolled into one. It was that tiny shift in the cosmos, I believe, that tipped us together??me and Manik Deb.
Layla Roy has defied the fates. Despite being born under an inauspicious horoscope, she is raised to be educated and independent by her eccentric grandfather, Dadamoshai. And, by cleverly manipulating the hand fortune has dealt her, she has even found love with Manik Deb??a man betrothed to another. All were minor miracles in India that spring of 1943, when young women's lives were predetermined??if not by the stars, then by centuries of family tradition and social order.
Layla's life as a newly married woman takes her away from home and into the jungles of Assam, where the world's finest tea thrives on plantations run by native labor and British efficiency. Fascinated by this culture of whiskey-soaked expats who seem fazed by neither earthquakes nor man-eating leopards, she struggles to find her place among the prickly English wives with whom she is expected to socialize, and the peculiar servants she now finds under her charge.
But navigating the tea-garden set will hardly be her biggest challenge. Layla's remote home is not safe from the powerful changes sweeping India on the heels of the Second World War. Their colonial society is at a tipping point, and Layla and Manik find themselves caught in a perilous racial divide that threatens their ve
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Näyttää 1-5 (yhteensä 16) (seuraava | näytä kaikki)
Layla Roy has defied the fates. Despite being born under an inauspicious horoscope, she is raised to be educated and independent by her eccentric grandfather, Dadamoshai. And, by cleverly manipulating the hand fortune has dealt her, she has even found love with Manik Deb — a man betrothed to another. All were minor miracles in India that spring of 1943, when young women's lives were predetermined — if not by the stars, then by centuries of family tradition and social order.

Layla's life as a newly married woman takes her away from home and into the jungles of Assam, where the world's finest tea thrives on plantations run by native labor and British efficiency. She struggles to find her place among the prickly English wives with whom she is expected to socialize, and the peculiar servants she now finds under her charge.

Layla's remote home is not safe from the powerful changes sweeping India on the heels of the Second World War. Their colonial society is at a tipping point, and Layla and Manik find themselves caught in a perilous racial divide that threatens their very lives


Received from the publishers via www.netgalley.com
  nordie | Oct 14, 2023 |
Teatime for the Firefly by Shona Patel is very loosely based on her parents' story. She had tried to write a non-fiction version first so she added stories that she heard and turned it into historical fiction. It took place before India's independence from Great Britian and many of the aspects of colonalism are in the story.

Layla was born under an unlucky star, and because of that was unlikely to marry. But on April 7, 1943, she married Manik Deb, who had an English Education and who was betrothed to marry another woman. Loosing both parents at very young age, she was ultimately raised by her grandfather, Dadamoshai, a promenient man in the area who championed English for the nationa language of India since India had many languaage and dialects and people could not talk to each other. He thought it was the most practical language for his country. Layla admired him tremendously and decided to follow in his footsteps and become an English teacher. Unfortunately, this ambition did not bear out when India became independent.

Manik came to Dadamoshair regularly for discussions and slowly Layla began to desire Mamk but she did not encourage him, he was already engaged. But Manik is breaks the path laid out for him as a civil servant and accepts a postion at the Assam Tea Plantation. He is disowned by his family and the future inlaws break the engagement. After the required three years of being single, he rushes to Layla and quickly marries. That began Layla's coming of age and finding her own self in the wild area of the plantation that was inhabited by headhunters. We go with Layla and experiene the odd life of living on the tea plantarion and the many disasters and triumps that break open. ( )
  Carolee888 | Aug 23, 2022 |
Teatime for the Firefly is in many ways as delicate and finely crafted as the cover art suggests. Through lyrical, honeyed prose, Patel brings to life the vibrancy of 1940s India and the rich landscape of the Assam Tea Plantation. Though I am enamored with Patel's smooth and evocative imagery, it was difficult for me to stay connected with the story's narrator, Layla. I have no doubt that Patel can create characters as rich and in depth as their settings. Unfortunately. a character that started out with such potential remained disappointingly flat and superficial for me for most of the book. I look forward to revisiting Teatime... to see if I gain a different perspective on Layla....

*Received free ARC through Goodreads First Reads*
( )
  vpor1222 | Jul 21, 2022 |
This book is the first in my local library's India book discussion series. The story is set in colonial India just prior to independence and is loosely based on the lives of Patel's parents. Her goal in writing it was to capture the authentic flavor of Assam and tea-plantation life. I do love tea and fireflies, so I was hopeful.

The book would have benefited from another draft with some judicious editing. I'm not satisfied with a pretty descriptive phrase if it doesn't add to the story line. I'm bothered when Betty becomes Betsy and I have to go back and check the last name to be sure another character hasn't been introduced.

Even though I found the characters naive and the story overly long, the book was an interesting glimpse into Indian tea plantation life and society. I may have more to say after the book discussion.

Edit following the book discussion:

Our group didn't know what salt tea is. Wikipedia has something to say about it ("noon chai"). Salt tea is the most commonly used beverage in Kashmir, India.

I found it interesting that despite fireflies being a recurring symbol in the book, our group had difficulty naming what they signify. I found an interview with the author on the Harlequin blog. She says the main theme of the firefly is centered on prejudice and segregation. She also says the main character Layla is the “firefly” because she grows from a reclusive young girl to “sparkle” as the memsahib (lady of the manor) in the tea gardens.

I think it’s really interesting that neither theme was obvious to me. I wonder that I have a certain cultural blindness in reading a story written from the perspective of another culture. This book was worth reading if it only shows me that. I have hope of taking off the blinders. ( )
  Linda_Louise | Jan 20, 2021 |
A bit of a coming of age story set in a historical fiction setting. Overall, I enjoyed reading about a time and circumstances that were challenging to the main protagonist. I get the opportunity to meet the author on March 14th, so that may also have added to my reading experience. ( )
  ppmarkgraf | May 5, 2018 |
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Fiction. Literature. HTML:For fans of Alka Joshi's The Henna Artist, comes a compelling love story set against a culture grounded in tradition, about to be changed forever in the onslaught of WWII.
My name is Layla and I was born under an unlucky star. For a young girl growing up in India, this is bad news. But everything began to change for me one spring day in 1943, when three unconnected incidents, like tiny droplets on a lily leaf, tipped and rolled into one. It was that tiny shift in the cosmos, I believe, that tipped us together??me and Manik Deb.
Layla Roy has defied the fates. Despite being born under an inauspicious horoscope, she is raised to be educated and independent by her eccentric grandfather, Dadamoshai. And, by cleverly manipulating the hand fortune has dealt her, she has even found love with Manik Deb??a man betrothed to another. All were minor miracles in India that spring of 1943, when young women's lives were predetermined??if not by the stars, then by centuries of family tradition and social order.
Layla's life as a newly married woman takes her away from home and into the jungles of Assam, where the world's finest tea thrives on plantations run by native labor and British efficiency. Fascinated by this culture of whiskey-soaked expats who seem fazed by neither earthquakes nor man-eating leopards, she struggles to find her place among the prickly English wives with whom she is expected to socialize, and the peculiar servants she now finds under her charge.
But navigating the tea-garden set will hardly be her biggest challenge. Layla's remote home is not safe from the powerful changes sweeping India on the heels of the Second World War. Their colonial society is at a tipping point, and Layla and Manik find themselves caught in a perilous racial divide that threatens their ve

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