'Once Upon A Summer' review: A simple colonial-era love story with many layers
It's colonial India. A lively young English girl, recently having arrived from Britain, falls in love with a simpleton Indian boy. This is a storyline not uncommon but one we've come across both in books and on screen. 'Once Upon A Summer', an upcoming book by author Manjul Bajaj, and published by HarperCollins, follows the same plotline, but offers something more.
It’s 1906, Nainital – the summer capital of the erstwhile United Provinces. Madeline, a lively young English girl and Azeem, her handsome horse groom, fall deeply in love. Divided by race and class, they face the world with fearlessness and resolve. 'What finally happens to them?' is a question that keeps you hooked till the end.
While a simple story, what stands out is the treatment – the different timelines, geographies, and storylines Bajaj has incorporated in a mere 351 pages. As much as the protagonists, she accords ample treatment to other characters, too, the prime example being Mariam, an ayah, or nanny to Madeline's family in Jaunpur, where her father works in the Public Works Department. Born into a lower-caste Hindu family, she converts to Christianity, and hence, Meera becomes Mariam.
Mariam is an interesting character, as she not only represents the little-understood and much-misunderstood relationship between casteism and conversion, but reflects how women of this country have been working for centuries, if not millennia, largely driven by casteism and classism. "Gown-clad, convent-educated, fluent in English, on her way to a new job, she wished to hold her own," Bajaj writes about Mariam.
What stands out the most in 'Once Upon A Summer' is the relationship between Indians and the British colonialists, which is much deeper and intertwined than is understood. What also stands out is how Bajaj effortlessly moves through timelines and geographies – you're in 1959 New York in one chapter and in 1895 Rannpur in the next – nowhere is the shift reading forceful or difficult to fully grasp.
A deeply engrossing and comfortable read, however, it becomes a bit bumpy in the portrayal of Madeline, whose character often reads like a caricature. For example, when her father sends her first-class tickets to travel from Britain to India, this is how she reacts: "Thank you, Papa. Thank you, life. Beautiful world, lay out your charms. Bring forward your sights and sounds. Mandeline Evans is headed your way." It's also difficult to understand her motivations and emotions apart from her deep fascination for everything around her.
Having said that, 'Once Upon A Summer' is an interesting read, one that will transport you into different worlds simultaneously, but through the same characters. This is where the strength of the book lies.
Once Upon a Summer
Author: Manjul Bajaj
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Pages: 351
Price: ₹499
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