OLIVIA AND JAI

by Rebecca Ryman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1990

Nineteenth-century British-colonial intrigue reigns supreme in this rococo first novel--a tale of a visiting American cousin who falls victim to the half-breed scourge of Calcutta's English society. The wealthy owners of a British tea-exporting company--Lady Bridget and Lord Josh Templewood--initially welcome their straight-shooting American niece as a healthy influence on their own spoiled teen-aged daughter, Estelle. Aunt Bridget delights in introducing pretty Olivia to Calcutta society, hoping to find the girl a husband and little suspecting that Olivia has already fallen in love with Jai Raventhorn--Uncle Josh's most imposing business competitor and the man Aunt Bridget hates most in India. A sworn enemy to English society, Jai begins his relationship with Olivia by insulting her, but soon grows to admire the passion and recklessness in her that appear so much like his own. But their secret love affair is soon disrupted as Jai persists in his apparently insane attempts to destroy Uncle Josh's tea business, deflowers Olivia and then, instructing Olivia to ""trust him,"" elopes with cousin Estelle. Furious and pregnant, Olivia marries a rich English beau in Jai's absence, but the marriage soon withers to name-only status, and an enraged Olivia is reduced to awaiting Jai's return in order to wreak her revenge. Much mutual sparring follows before Olivia learns that Estelle and Jai are not lovers but half-brother and sister, that Jai's feud with Uncle Josh is in fact a battle between a self-indulgent father and his illegitimate son, and that far from embodying an invincible force of evil as all Calcutta believes, Jai in fact longs to live peacefully with Olivia and their child. Eventually, the two quixotic spirits manage to become reconciled, determined to show one another how to love. Good old-fashioned, epic entertainment, told with admirable vigor and style.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1990

Categories: FICTION