Kindly Ones

by Caroline Stickland

In British India, Paul Eliot is a wealthy, powerful merchant. In nineteenth century England, where class is all-important, he takes quick offence at the easy self-assurance of men superior in rank, sensing disdain in every word. In revenge, he determines to seduce the beautiful wife of his well-born host and fellow merchant, Gerard Forston. Eliot and Eleanor flee to India, ignorant of the tragic, far-reaching consequence of their thoughtless elopement. Mirroring Paris's escape with Helen of Troy, all those connected with the lovers will be affected as their families are torn apart.

Genres: India

576 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Caroline Stickland was born in 1955. With a degree in English and American Literature from the University of East Anglia she became involved in adult literacy tutoring. Her first novel, The Standing Hills, was runner-up for the 1986 Betty Trask Award and the Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize.

Caroline Stickland is married and lives in Dorset.

Reviews

[Roberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being "The Kindly Ones" the second novel I read by Caroline Stickland and due to the fact that I enjoy her poetic writing style, I did some research about the author and her novels online. I am surprised that little is found about her and that her books are not more known. I think her novels are literary contests fodder. In this specific case, "The Kindly Ones" is a ""modern?"" retelling of the greek tragedy of the elopement of Helen of Troy and Paris and its devastating consequences. Set in Victorian times, Caroline Stickland does a wonderful job portraying that period, in a prose reminiscent of Thomas Hardy( another favourite author of mine). She defends the motto " Show , don´t tell" at her utmost and descriptions of english countryside during the changing of seasons are exquisite: you can feel the cold of the winter scenes in your bones as well the fragrance of the roses in her springtime descriptions. Exquisite. Due to this, sometimes the narrative seems to be a bit slow but there are wonderful passages in this novel: My favourite were the shocking wedding of Kate ( the mythological Iphigenia), the murder of two characters during Christmas time and the surprise fate of one of the characters that Caroline Stickland reserved us for last. She did a nice job adapting a infamous greek tragedy to victorian times.