Have finally had time these past few days to indulge myself in reading Sinha's novel 'Belonging' (after family members nicked my copy to read! ) and it's absolutely brilliant. I've learnt about a part of history I didn't know much about previously. It was wonderful to get a sense not only of the connections of familiar Sussex and London landmarks to events in history but also an insight into how people dealt with the uncertainties of war, both those out on the field in distant lands and those at home. It made me both happy and sad at the same time. Sensitive and shocking too. I am not an eloquent writer so don't really know how to describe the book but it unfurls exquisitely and basically you should just go and read it!! Ok? 1st book on your list for 2016 yes?

This book offers all I could wish for from a novel…and then some. The story, set in India and England, is completely engaging, albeit grim, and is narrated by three main characters, each with their own well-defined voice and developing personality. I learned a great deal from this novel about the history of India, and England’s frequently shameful past relationship this country. I read it with my fellow book group members (all men) and we thought it was a marvellous piece of work, apart from one member (X) who complained of ‘unrelenting gloom’. As has been mentioned elsewhere, this is a novel which makes splendid use of the notion of silence: one narrator has been rendered silent and many of the characters observe their own peculiar codes of silence. Information is withheld, voices are lowered, emotions are repressed and circumspection is rife. Spoiler alert. My knowledge of the Cawnpore Massacre was based entirely on George Macdonald Fraser’s ‘Flashman in The Great Game’ so I was slightly prepared for horrors to come but Sinha keeps the horrors coming, and many – and there are many – caught me unawares. But, despite what X said, this is not a tale of ‘unrelenting gloom’. There are many passages of tremendous charm and enchanting beauty, a surprising amount of humour, and a warmth and engagement with the characters that made me think of Jean Renoir’s film, ‘The River’ and Forster’s ‘A Passage To India’. And – curiously – of Powell and Pressburger’s ‘Black Narcissus’. ‘Belonging’ is a humane and hopeful work and a ‘right rip-roaring yarn’, to boot (whatever that means). What else do you want? Blood? Oh, you’ll get that.