Naeli and the Secret Song
Naeli Harwood is the daughter of two musicians living in Hyderabad, India, in the 1870s. Her Indian mother, Jemandee, is a highly regarded sarangi player, and her English doctor father an accomplished violinist who were first brought together by music. When the story opens, Naeli’s mother has just died from malaria and her father has been absent for some years, having returned to England because his father was ill and seemingly having ceased communication with his wife and daughter.
A mysterious letter arrives containing little but a single ticket to travel from Calcutta to London. Naeli believes this could only have come from her missing father, and she is determined to go and seek him out. It does somewhat stretch credulity how easily her ayah, Vanya, lets her embark on this journey alone. However, the story is such a page turner that it’s easy to excuse this. On the sea voyage Naeli gets to know Jack who is dreading his return to Westminster School, and this friendship is a significant strand in the story. On arrival in London, Naeli is met by a man who initially takes her to work as a skivvy in a pie shop from where her father’s precious violin is stolen. Her insistence on recovering the violin leads her to meet the person who arranged for her to travel to England and the unravelling of the mystery surrounding her father ensues.
An author’s note reveals her inspiration to be some letters in Oxford’s Bodleian Library written by a girl who, similar to Naeli, was the daughter of an Indian mother and a British army officer. Thus the legacy of colonialism threads through this novel although the pace of the story takes precedence, and the research behind it is worn lightly.
