Review of Flame Tree Road, by Shona Patel

Flame Tree Road by Shona Patel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Shona Patel’s second novel offers a view of late 19th to early 20th century British Colonial India through the eyes of a brilliant young man of humble birth who makes good due to the vision of his educated father and the patronage of British officials. Biren Roy grows up in a river village in Bengal, where his father works in a jute mill for a British company and tutors his sons in his spare time. Tragedy and good fortune propel Biren to success as a student at Cambridge and then a lawyer in India. Along the way, he never loses his goal of improving the condition of women in India, a goal shaped in part by his father’s enlightened attitudes and his own sympathy for his mother, his wife, and an outcast widow who lives by a temple. While his motives are noble, at times his attitudes seem too modern for his era. Like a duck who sheds water, Biren seems surprisingly free from the biases of the 19th century, whether those of India or of England. The novel also offers a relatively uncomplicated view of British Colonialism: as if British laws, education, and justice have come to rescue India from the murk of superstition. As Biren states, “But remember the mighty power of the British rule can be used for our good, as well” (370). The British characters are portrayed as avuncular patrons, albeit class-conscious, profit-driven, and unpredictable.

As its title might suggest, Flame Tree Road is studded with love stories: between his mother and father, Biren and his wife, as well as with an upper class English woman. This personal story takes the lead, while Biren’s reforms and advocacy for Indian women remain in the background. India itself is described in rich detail for its interesting foods, colorful clothing, exotic rituals, and crafts such as pottery-making and weaving. Patel is at her best when the story veers into tragedy--it is then that the characters’ emotions and the complexity of Indian society come to life. There are also some nice scenes of friendship and intimacy, such as when Biren’s mother Shibani has her hair oiled and washed by her neighbor. Or when Biren finds in his wife’s trunk half of a lost Russian nesting doll he had given his daughter, a discovery that triggers both hope and grief. Symbols like this one-- prophecies, flame trees, cobras and even a broken umbrella--help heighten suspense and unify the story in a book that covers almost a century. Despite the successes in his life, which come in part from British education and patronage, Biren eventually pays a price for his difference from his own society. Near the end of the book, a holy man’s prophecy comes fatefully true, leaving the reader to wonder which is more powerful: reason or superstition.




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