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A Singular Hostage

by Thalassa Ali

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1928140,475 (3.62)7
In a land of exotic splendor, a young Englishwoman finds herself guardian of an orphan child believed by a dying maharajah to be endowed with magical gifts. It is a role that will take her on a perilous journey into a kingdom's walled city to protect a child she doesn't know from a culture she doesn't understand... A Singular Hostage The year is 1838. Mariana Givens, a spirited young woman of twenty, has been sent to India to find a suitable husband. Traveling as a translator, she joins the entourage of Lord Auckland, the British Governor-General, as he journeys across India with an army ten thousand strong to meet the fabled Ranjit Singh, Maharajah of the Punjab. Eager young officers compete for Mariana's favor, but it is with India that she falls in love: the baggage elephants tramping through country vast and wild; the scent of exotic foods at remote campsites; the enigmatic tutor who is her guide to native languages and ways. Lord Auckland must forge an alliance with Ranjit Singh that will deliver Afghanistan into British control, but as he negotiates his crucial treaty, Mariana is drawn into a perilous conspiracy surrounding the one-eyed Maharajah's baby hostage--a child of mystical repute named Saboor. From the Trade Paperback edition.… (more)
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Showing 1-5 of 8 (next | show all)
A young Englishwoman, shipped off to British India to find a suitable husband among Queen Victoria's military community, becomes entangled with local politics when she is thrust into the position of rescuer and guardian of a young child being held political hostage by the Maharaja of Punjab.

The descriptions of life in northern India (now Pakistan) during the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, is suitably colorful, but the action borders on the melodramatic, with many hair-raising escapades, a forced wedding, an escape from the seraglio, an is-it-or-isn't-it romance, and an ending that just kind of dribbles off without a clear resolution.

Ali, American-born and married to a Pakistani, manages (barely) to stay out of bodice-ripper territory, mostly by keeping everyone chaste. But her heroine is cut from the traditional cloth -- an independent, unconventional, headstrong maiden whose curiosity about the exotic locale leads her, step by step, into deeper intrigue and danger.

It's not a bad read, but don't expect much more than light entertainment here. ( )
  LyndaInOregon | Dec 14, 2018 |
I got a few chapters in but it is not my cup of tea. Mariana Givens feels like a 21st century girl in the 19th century and the writing was not that fabulous so I'm putting this and it's sequal back into the BookCrossing to release piles.
  amyem58 | Jan 27, 2016 |
In the days of the British Raj it was common for young English women to be sent to India in order to find a husband. So it was with Mariana Givens. However, this unconventional young woman finds herself involved in the rescue of a young boy who has been held hostage by a maharaja who believes him to be a sort of good-luck talisman.

This was a very pleasurable read. ( )
  bookwoman247 | Oct 29, 2012 |
I LOVED this book. It is one I have returned to again and again when there is nothing compelling on the book shelf. It functions as a satisfying romance with none of the artificial silliness of the 'romance formula', but offers a breathtaking tour through a very real part of history, the (dare we say 'foolish'?) smug superiority of the British in 19th century India, and a vivid and respectful introduction to Islam and Sufi mysticism as well. Mariana Givens is the awkward, unsophisticated heroine, sent to India to find a husband, but never able to suppress either her unladylike interest in military matters or her wide smile. Her interest in 'native' customs horrifies her betters, but of course appeals to the reader hugely. The 'hostage' she rescues, the child Saboor, is a compelling little character, and the incipient romance with Hassan Ali Khan was utterly fascinating. (Horror: romance with a 'native.' Romance with a native Muslim who believes women should be veiled and sheltered!)

I couldn't wait to read the second book in the series ("A Beggar at the Gate") to see where THAT would go, and still feel that the single brief scene of their one night together was more moving and more profound than the endless pages of biological detail so common in romance novels today.

How I wish we could all approach new and different cultures with Mariana's openness. How I wish that U.S. foreign policy had some of Mariana's understanding of and respect for 'other' ways of life. Bravo to Thalassa Ali for opening western eyes to an historical understanding of Pakistan, neatly couched in a compelling and appealing story. ( )
  easefulreader | Mar 3, 2012 |
I had very mixed feelings about this book. Set in India in 1838, telling the story of Mariana, a young English girl sent to India to find a husband,. She ends up travelling as a translator for Lord Auckland’s delegation to sign a treaty with the Maharajah of the Punjab. She eventually becomes mixed up in political affairs as she rescues a baby from the Maharajah in order to return him to his family. The baby was being held as a hostage to ensure his family toed the line. The Maharajah looked upon this baby as a good luck charm and wanted to keep him close. Unfortunately, this did not keep the baby safe from his jealous wives and courtiers.

At this point in the story, I found the book changing from a work of historical fiction into the realms of a comic fairy tale. The story now becomes one of rescuing this young woman from the evil clutches of the old, one-eyed ruler by the stalwart, handsome father of the baby. Mariana herself complicates matters by her inept handling of the situation.

I found parts this story quite unbelievable and rather disjointed. It made more sense to me when I found out that this is the first part of a trilogy, so I assume the ragged ends will eventually be mended and the story will come together. The writing seemed rather simple and the characters a little flat, although Mariana herself, I found to be engaging although not the sharpest knife in the drawer. The baby, Saboor, I found downright odd. I may continue with the second book at some point, but it’s definitely not a “must” read. ( )
  DeltaQueen50 | Nov 7, 2010 |
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Dedication
To the memory of my English mother,

Thalassa Cruso Hencken

and

my American father, Hugh O'Neill Hencken
To the memory of
Sayed Akhlaque Husain Tauhidi
who showed me the Path to Peace through scattered pearls
First words
No one knew when the city of Lahore, with its tight, airless lanes and thick, defensive walls, had first arisen beside the Ravi River on the flat plain of the Punjab, but everyone agreed that the city's foundations rested on the ruins of many older, now forgotten versions of itself, and that the Lahore of the seventeenth century had been the finest and most beautiful of them all.  (Prologue)
At 2:00 A.M., Shaikh Waliullah Karakoyia opened his eyes.
Three months later, still in Calcutta, Mariana sat beside her aunt six pews behind the Governor-General and his two spinster sisters, watching a short, red-faced man make his perspiring way toward the pulpit steps of St. John's Cathedral.  (Chapter 1)
As a watery light filtered into her tent, Mariana Givens awoke with a start.  (Chapter 1)
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In a land of exotic splendor, a young Englishwoman finds herself guardian of an orphan child believed by a dying maharajah to be endowed with magical gifts. It is a role that will take her on a perilous journey into a kingdom's walled city to protect a child she doesn't know from a culture she doesn't understand... A Singular Hostage The year is 1838. Mariana Givens, a spirited young woman of twenty, has been sent to India to find a suitable husband. Traveling as a translator, she joins the entourage of Lord Auckland, the British Governor-General, as he journeys across India with an army ten thousand strong to meet the fabled Ranjit Singh, Maharajah of the Punjab. Eager young officers compete for Mariana's favor, but it is with India that she falls in love: the baggage elephants tramping through country vast and wild; the scent of exotic foods at remote campsites; the enigmatic tutor who is her guide to native languages and ways. Lord Auckland must forge an alliance with Ranjit Singh that will deliver Afghanistan into British control, but as he negotiates his crucial treaty, Mariana is drawn into a perilous conspiracy surrounding the one-eyed Maharajah's baby hostage--a child of mystical repute named Saboor. From the Trade Paperback edition.

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Sent to India to find a husband, Mariana Givens is facing the prospect of returning to England ignominiously single. India has, however, been a revelation. And before her stay is finally over, she is to accompany the Governor-General's vast camp on its journey into the Punjab to meet, and they hope to forge an alliance with its ageing, one-eyed Maharajah.

Without her knowledge, Mariana is being pulled into the fate, not just of the army's Afghan expedition, but of a child of whose existence she is not even aware. Eighteen-month-old Saboor, the son of one of the Maharajah courtiers, is being held hostage by the capricious old man, who views him as a talisman against approaching decrepitude. But the Maharajah has n concept of a child's needs and, his mother poisoned, Saboor is dying from neglect. According to Saboor's grandfather, the mystic, Shaikh Waliullah, the young woman from Sussex has been chosen to save him. If only she can be persuaded to do so...
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