The Raj Hotel
3 primary works
Book 1
In this evocative tale of life in India between the wars, friendships will be tested and loyalties torn. But can love win the day?
In Scotland in the aftermath of the First World War, nurse Esmie McBride meets handsome Captain Tom Lomax at her best friend Lydia’s home. Esmie is at first concerned for Tom’s shell shock, then captivated by his charm, but it’s effervescent Lydia he marries, and the pair begin a new adventure together in India.
When marriage to Tom’s doctor friend Harold offers Esmie the chance to work in India, the two sets of newlyweds find themselves living wildly different lives on the subcontinent. Esmie, heartbroken but resolved, is nursing at a mission hospital on the North West Frontier. Lydia, meanwhile, is the glamorous mistress of the Raj Hotel, where Tom hopes his sociable new wife will dazzle international guests.
As Esmie struggles with her true feelings for Tom and the daily dangers of her work, Lydia realises the Raj is not the centre of high society she had dreamed of. And when crisis strikes both couples, Esmie faces a shattering choice: should she stay the constant friend she’s always been, or risk everything and follow her heart?
In Scotland in the aftermath of the First World War, nurse Esmie McBride meets handsome Captain Tom Lomax at her best friend Lydia’s home. Esmie is at first concerned for Tom’s shell shock, then captivated by his charm, but it’s effervescent Lydia he marries, and the pair begin a new adventure together in India.
When marriage to Tom’s doctor friend Harold offers Esmie the chance to work in India, the two sets of newlyweds find themselves living wildly different lives on the subcontinent. Esmie, heartbroken but resolved, is nursing at a mission hospital on the North West Frontier. Lydia, meanwhile, is the glamorous mistress of the Raj Hotel, where Tom hopes his sociable new wife will dazzle international guests.
As Esmie struggles with her true feelings for Tom and the daily dangers of her work, Lydia realises the Raj is not the centre of high society she had dreamed of. And when crisis strikes both couples, Esmie faces a shattering choice: should she stay the constant friend she’s always been, or risk everything and follow her heart?
Book 2
In the dying days of the Raj, can paths divided by time and circumstance ever find each other again?
In 1930s Northern India, childhood friends Stella and Andrew have grown up together in the orbit of the majestic Raj Hotel. Spirited Stella has always had a soft spot for boisterous Andrew, though she dreams of meeting a soulmate from outside the close-knit community. But life is turned on its head when one scandal shatters their friendship and another sees her abandoned by the man she thought she loved.
As the Second World War looms, Andrew joins the army to fight for freedom. Meanwhile in India, Stella, reeling from her terrible betrayal, also throws herself into the war effort, volunteering for the Women’s Auxiliary Corps, resigned to living a lonelier life than the one she dreamed of as a child.
When Andrew returns to the East on the eve of battle with Japan, the two former friends are reunited, though bitter experience has changed them. Can they rekindle what they once had or will war demand of their friendship the ultimate sacrifice?
In 1930s Northern India, childhood friends Stella and Andrew have grown up together in the orbit of the majestic Raj Hotel. Spirited Stella has always had a soft spot for boisterous Andrew, though she dreams of meeting a soulmate from outside the close-knit community. But life is turned on its head when one scandal shatters their friendship and another sees her abandoned by the man she thought she loved.
As the Second World War looms, Andrew joins the army to fight for freedom. Meanwhile in India, Stella, reeling from her terrible betrayal, also throws herself into the war effort, volunteering for the Women’s Auxiliary Corps, resigned to living a lonelier life than the one she dreamed of as a child.
When Andrew returns to the East on the eve of battle with Japan, the two former friends are reunited, though bitter experience has changed them. Can they rekindle what they once had or will war demand of their friendship the ultimate sacrifice?
Book 3
In this emotional story set in 1946 post-war India, can a woman’s quest for love survive shocking secrets and betrayal?
Filled with excitement and a little trepidation, Jeanie Munro is returning to India and her husband Mungo, having been forced apart from him by the long years of the Second World War. She has high hopes of helping him with his new role as headmaster of the prestigious Nicholson’s School in the idyllic setting of Murree in the foothills of the Himalayas. Together, they can start their longed-for family. But post-war India is in a ferment of change and the undercurrents of tension begin to disturb their tranquil outpost. Still grieving for her beloved brother, killed in action in the recent war, Jeanie – vivacious and optimistic by nature – tries to make the most of her new life. But after serving in the Anti-Aircraft Brigade during the war, she is no longer the biddable, naïve young wife who left India in 1939 and finds life at Nicholson’s restrictive and lonely. Despite Mungo disapproving of them, her only true friends are the Lomaxes, a family haunted by scandal and owners of the glamorous Raj Hotel in Rawalpindi. Invited to the Raj for an Anglo-Indian wedding, Jeanie finds escape and enjoyment among this vibrant mixed-race community – and is especially drawn to handsome, fun-loving Rick – but knows that duty must not allow their mutual attraction to grow. Then, just as Jeanie is becoming reconciled to her lot, explosive, long-buried secrets come to light that shake her world to the core – and leave her facing the hardest decisions of her life.
THE DIAMOND DAUGHTER is the third and final novel in THE RAJ HOTEL SERIES.
Filled with excitement and a little trepidation, Jeanie Munro is returning to India and her husband Mungo, having been forced apart from him by the long years of the Second World War. She has high hopes of helping him with his new role as headmaster of the prestigious Nicholson’s School in the idyllic setting of Murree in the foothills of the Himalayas. Together, they can start their longed-for family. But post-war India is in a ferment of change and the undercurrents of tension begin to disturb their tranquil outpost. Still grieving for her beloved brother, killed in action in the recent war, Jeanie – vivacious and optimistic by nature – tries to make the most of her new life. But after serving in the Anti-Aircraft Brigade during the war, she is no longer the biddable, naïve young wife who left India in 1939 and finds life at Nicholson’s restrictive and lonely. Despite Mungo disapproving of them, her only true friends are the Lomaxes, a family haunted by scandal and owners of the glamorous Raj Hotel in Rawalpindi. Invited to the Raj for an Anglo-Indian wedding, Jeanie finds escape and enjoyment among this vibrant mixed-race community – and is especially drawn to handsome, fun-loving Rick – but knows that duty must not allow their mutual attraction to grow. Then, just as Jeanie is becoming reconciled to her lot, explosive, long-buried secrets come to light that shake her world to the core – and leave her facing the hardest decisions of her life.
THE DIAMOND DAUGHTER is the third and final novel in THE RAJ HOTEL SERIES.