A Thousand Painted Hours
London, September 1940. “Do you suppose anyone will use these?” Middle-aged artist Elsie’s husband says, showing her the vial of cyanide tablets their host had offered them at a dinner party. Elsie, born in India to English parents, her father an Indian Civil Servant, spent an idyllic childhood in picturesque Nainital, a Himalayan hill-station town that surrounds a lake. At the impressionable age of ten, she meets Prince Tanveer Singh, who is also ten. The children became good friends, taking part in sketching, stargazing, swimming, witnessing a tiger hunt, and other sporting events. Elsie and Tanveer eventually break cultural barriers and fall in love. Tanveer is sent to a boarding school, and thus begins a regular secret correspondence between them that continues for many years. Elsie is heartbroken when her father is summoned back to England, and she is forced to return with her parents. In England, Elsie continues to paint, fondly remembering her life in India. Her destiny will determine her future, whether she needs to take the cyanide pill or not.
Barbara O’Neal is a bestselling author of numerous women’s fiction novels. This is her impressive debut into historical fiction, spanning two continents and both world wars. Readers are taken on a long journey from the cool, forested Himalayas to rainy England, and for a bit in Cairo, Egypt, as well. World events are seamlessly woven into the plot and naturally form part of the story. A major portion of the novel is written in epistolary form, and its dual timeline is neatly maintained in alternating chapters that keep the narrative’s flow. O’Neal’s extensive research shows in the in-depth descriptions that transport us to the settings. Earlier similar notable British Indian novels have been adapted for film, and one hopes this one will follow suit. Highly recommended.
