Summer reads with an India twist

I did a bit of reading back in June before all the company came.  I read two novels which were set in India as well as the British Isles.  Both traveled back and forth in time as descendants tried to find the true story of a ancestor.  The Kashmir Shawl is the story of a Welsh Christian missionary couple in the northern part of India and eventually Kashmir as the world, including India, descends into war.  It is also the story of a Kashmir shawl which is found in the the drawer of a dresser in a former missionary's home in Wales and the great grand daughter who takes it to Kashmir in search of its origin and how it come into her great grandmother's possession.  If you read it, you will probably be googling Kashmir as I did.  It is a beautiful place.
 

I really enjoy books written by Lucinda Riley.  This one did not disappoint.  The settings were vivid, the characters interesting, and there are mysteries to be solved in surprising ways.  An Indian woman passes on her life story to her great grand son at her 90th birthday party in India.  She tells him that she trusts him and feels like he is the one to read her until now secret life story.  She is sure that a baby she bore in England did not die as she was told and she wants him to find out the truth.  The contrasts between culture and different ways of living combined with prejudice may break your heart.  Don't let the plot device of a movie being filmed in an English manor in present day keep you from exploring the past for that is were the true story lies.