A scarce 1983 title - Book and wrapper in very good condition even though it belonged to a library before - Some yellowing to pages. >>> Sahgal's writing verges on poetry, particularly in its descriptions of landscape and geography. For the main narrative voice of the text, Anna Hansen, the forests of India's hill country serve to shrink the world -- they remind her of the Alps to the point that she feels she's hardly left Europe , even while they conceal the violent mystery around which the text revolves. Set at the outbreak of WWI, Plans for Departure offers a unique perspective on the conflict. Hansen, a Danish woman in India, finds herself removed from the people who populate her world, as neither a citizen of the British Empire or an Indian national. The shifting narrative style allows the reader to experience a variety of different voices, all of which espouse very different perspectives on the burgeoning conflict taking place at such a geographical remove. I would have given this book five stars if not for the entirely unbelievable "love" story interwoven with the smart political commentary which spans women's rights, the impetus for imperial dominion, and whether there is justice to be had when power is racially delineated. Definitely worth a read. (Rachel on Goodreads) >>> For the eminent scientist Sir Nitin Basu, spending the summer of 1914 at a remote hill station in the Himalayas, the arrival of a single Danish woman - hired as his secretary by his sister didi - is as alarming as an invasion. Tall, fair, unconventional Miss Anna Hansen is a feminist, a woman ahead of her times, enjoying a year of travel before her marriage to an English diplomat. Before her short stay in Himapur is over, she will have come dangerously close to loving another man, stumbled on the evidence, she believes, of a secret crime, and been shaken by a violet and mysterious death.Making up the small European community in Himapur are the missionary Marlowe Croft, a bullying, obsessive man determined at all costs to build a Christian church in the hills; his shrill, foolish wife Lulu, the chief obstacle to his mission; and the district Magistrate Henry Brewster, an enigmatic figure, ill-at-ease with the imperial authority he represents. Deserted by his wife Stella, for whom ge gave up his dreams of a new political life in England, he is still consumed with love for her. Anna's fascination with rewster, her involvement in India's growing political unrest, lead her to reconsider her future, but a horrific accident and a startling find in a forest glade make it impossible for her to stay. Tormented by unanswered questions, Anna makes her plans for departure, as the intimate tragedies of Himapur are swept away by the cataclysm of war.Plans for Departure is both a love story and mystery, set in a continent poised for revolution and a world on the edge of war. Nayantara Sahgal has a written a new novel of haunting power and superb craftsmanship, rich in intrigue, gentle humour and exquisite observation.
