A historical novel set in turn-of-the-century India, The Far Pavilions follows the life of Ash, a British child raised as an Indian by his foster mother, until he is returned to England as an adolescent. His subsequent struggles to recapture his sense of belonging when he returns to India as a British officer are woven into the saga with romance, war, princesses, misunderstandings and clashes of cultures in British-ruled India. The author M.M. Kaye grew up in India during the era of the British Raj and draws on her own experiences.
Channe Willis, daughter of a successful American novelist, enjoys her carefree childhood in France until her parents adopt a French boy exactly her age. Her resentment of him and cruel treatment of him makes their relationship turbulent. When her father’s illness causes the family return to the United States during her mid-teens, she and her brother struggle to find their places. It is not until adulthood that they learn to love and respect each other and Channe begins to confront the ghosts of that long-ago sibling rivalry.
Channe’s parents have a very liberal parenting style, and some of their responses to her behavior may offend some people (as may some of Channe’s behavior). However, many of Channe’s experiences as a child, and even as an adolescent searching for love in a new, unfamiliar country, will resonate with TCKs.
Christopher Banks, an English boy born in the early 1900s in Shanghai, is taken back to England as an orphan when first his father, then his mother disappear under mysterious circumstances. After he grows up to become a renowned detective in England, he returns to Shanghai to solve his parents’ disappearances, just as China’s war with the Japanese is heating up. Written in first person, Christopher’s early reminiscences about his childhood, and especially about his friendship with the Japanese neighbor boy touch on some familiar TCK experiences. But the experiences of the adult Christopher are surreal and the tone of the book changes as he ventures into a war zone trying to locate his parents, his judgement and perceptions distorted as he loses touch with reality. Although the mystery is resolved in the end, the experiences of the adult Christopher will not probably strike any chords with anyone who has not experienced a complete break with reality. Nevertheless, a well-written book by a talented author who personally experienced moving between countries as a child.
This is the first volume of Rumer Godden’s autobiography. She was born in England but moved to India when she was a baby, where she lived half her life. This book covers the years 1907-1946 and tells the story of Godden’s enchanting childhood in India as a TCK, her marriage to a charming but unreliable stockbroker, her life after his abandonment having to raise two children poor and alone, and finally the publication and success of her early novels. A Time to Laugh, No Time to Weep shows Rumer Godden’s understanding of loss, suffering and withstanding long endurance.
This semi-autobiographical novel tells the story of the family of Bull Meecham, a Marine fighter pilot who runs his family with the strictness of a drill instructor shaping up a bunch of recruits. This book focuses mostly on the relationship between Bull and his eldest children. Ben, the first-born, is an athlete who can’t seem to please his father. Mary Ann, the second child, fights back against her father and the world with her biting sarcasm and charade of invincibility. This family illustrates many of the wrong ways to raise children, yet the love of the parents for their children is also evident. Many TCKs will identify with the four children’s varied responses to moving almost every year and having to repeatedly make friends in new schools.
Note: There are a lot of coarse jokes and sexual references in this book in the context of Marines or adolescent boys joking about these subjects.
From the book’s dustjacket: “Born in Pakistan to Baptist missionaries…Jonathan S. Addleton crossed the borders of race, culture, class, and religion from an early age. [This book] combines family history, social observation, current events, and deeply personal commentary to tell an unusual coming-of-age story that has much to do with the intersection of cultures as it does with one man’s life.”
The author writes with humor and deep affection of his childhood in Pakistan, his education at Muree Christian School, and his relationships with family and friends.
