Tea Planters Daughter

by Sara Banerji

Today is Julia Clockhouse's twenty-fifth birthday. Her long-suffering Hindu servants are frantically trying to organise a party for her, but it's hard to do so amid the havoc wreaked by her wild spirit. They think she is possessed. Daughters of colonial tea-planters shouldn't have souls that escape their bodies, move objects with their minds, hear tongueless yogis speak. Julia Clockhouse does.

As the day passes and the chaos mounts in the kitchen, Julia listens desperately for the return of her husband. Ben may have married her on the orders of her domineering father, but he had come to love her; together they had found the happiness they missed in childhood. But by the time the party guests are tumbling in from the rising fury of the monsoon Ben has still not come.

Sara Banerji narrates the events of an extraordinary birthday with deft humour and haunting eloquence, weaving into Julia's story a picture of an isolated tea-plantation and all those who live there. The Tea-Planter's Daughter is a captivating flight of the imagination firmly rooted in the reality of the South Indian hills.

Genres: Fiction, India, Historical Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1988

About the author

Sara Banerji describes her style as ‘mystic realism’ – her stories are peopled with vivid characters, whose lives are shot through with magic as well as very real human emotions. They are recounted with dark humour that can all too easily tip over into horror. Critics describe her voice as ‘original and highly imaginative’ ‘entertaining’, ‘bold’, ‘punchy’, ‘exciting’, ‘gripping, fluid and confident’. She is widely acclaimed as ‘a very gifted storyteller’.

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Julia Clockwise, a young wife living on a tea plantation in southern India, is having a birthday celebration. I nearly quit this book halfway through because I just couldn't get into it. It seemed to jump around and the characters never really quite developed. Just before I quit, it got a bit more interesting. It turned out that Julia was absolutely batty. In addition to being a weirdo nut, she has special powers. I expected an interesting story of southern India, but what I got was a crazy privileged European lady acting like a hippy-dippy version of Carrie.

[Sandra Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was hard for me to get into this book initially. After the first 50 pages or so my attention became more focused. The story of Clarrie was predictable but it was still interesting. The author has an understanding of human nature and behavior. I also like how the subject of alcohol abuse tied into the characters lives and how it affected them. Women's sufferage was also briefly dealt dealt with.