Book review : 1857 DUST OF AGES by Vandana Shanker

Blurb : 1857. Captain Richard Smith watches the walls of the Red

Fort as death and mayhem rage on the streets of Delhi. Somewhere in the city is Princess Meera, the ruler of Navgarh, his wife of three years. 

2016, Shiv Sahai, a young Indian art historian and Ruth Aiken, a British scholar discover an excerpt from the journal of an anonymous British soldier, searching for his wife in the chaos of 1857 Delhi. As they begin investigating the scandal, they become aware of the vague rumours that are told in the bylanes of Navgarh – about a princess who married a British soldier to save her kingdom. 

In 1857 Dust of Ages: The Forgotten Tale, the pages of time turn backward in search of the lost history of Navgarh. 

Review : I have always been fascinated by history and India's struggle for freedom, in particular, has been a constant favorite. Off late however, I have questioned and wondered if all that the historians have written is all authentic. As Walter Benjamin had said — 'History is written by the victors.' Well in India's case not the victors maybe but certainly history is written to chronicle only certain regions. For example the Indian freedom movement and lakhs of men and women, our heroes. But only a few names are chronicled. 

And this is why I would like to congratulate the writer of 1857 DUST OF AGES , Vandana Shanker for taking us back to a time when the first war of Indian independence was fought. Shanker has a very lucid style of writing and has created original characters and no rewritten characters we already know about. 

 Vandana’s writing made me want to exchange places with Shiv Sahai. When does one get hold of an original piece of history? Shiv is the passionate student of history and I like the way he goes out of his way to unravel what the document doesn’t tell him.

The story keeps moving back and forth into the present and back to 1857 and the descriptions are so beautiful that one can almost see the events unfold, feel Meera’s rage, her need to protect the kingdom.

Meera makes me wonder about how many heroes we have failed to come to know. How many of them made sacrifices for what we today call independence.

The book ended too early and I wanted more of Meera and Captain Richard. I would read the other parts of the book for sure.

P.S – The book reminded me of two creations- a film Junoon and a novel Heat and Dust. There is something about that period of Indian history.