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East of the Sun  By  cover art

East of the Sun

By: Julia Gregson
Narrated by: Tania Rodrigues
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Publisher's summary

Autumn 1928. Three young women are on their way to India, each with a new life in mind. Rose, a beautiful but naive bride-to-be, is anxious about leaving her family and marrying a man she hardly knows. Victoria, her bridesmaid couldn't be happier to get away from her overbearing mother, and is determined to find herself a husband. And Viva, their inexperienced chaperone, is in search of the India of her childhood, ghosts from the past and freedom.

Each of them has their own reason for leaving their homeland but the hopes and secrets they carry can do little to prepare them for what lies ahead in India...

©2008 Julia Gregson (P)2008 WF Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

A Richard and Judy Book Club selection.

What listeners say about East of the Sun

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Indian history takes a back seat to 3 young women

Imagine being stuck on a bus with three young women talking loudly behind you. Worse, what they are going on about is really vapid and dull to everyone else but them. That's what's listening to this book was like.

This is the kind of book written for a certain type of woman who wants a swoony romance in an exotic local, but not to many facts to trouble her mind. Since Victoria Holt is no longer alive, a facsimile of a carbon copy will have to do.

Why did I choose this book? Good question. I liked the cover and I am interested in the time period regarding India and it's break from the long stifling colonization by the English. Well the cover is lovely but that's about it.

I'm also in the bad habit of almost always finishing a book I start. The story's one saving grace is that I didn't have to concentrate to hard so I could zone out and not worry about missing anything.

Hey this is not the first 'bad' book I have listened to and it won't be the last, I just have have to try harder to limit the damage.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Plotty, but good.

This work relies on plot rather than character development. The prose style isn't anything to write home about but doesn't get in the way. Some aspects of the plot are too coincidental to be believed but all in all it was good entertainment. You won't be deeply moved or have any life changing experiences, but it is a good car trip book. Light reading/listening.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Slow start but worth the wait...

I'm not particularly a fan of this genre (drama??), but once in a while, i let myself get out of my reading comfort-zone, so i took a gamble with this book.
The blurb hooked me into buying the book (I must confess I didn't actually read the reviews, just saw the ratings) and at first, i was really dubious about being able to finish the whole book!
the best comparison i have for this book is: it's like slow-braised lamb - takes hours and hours to really get cooking, but well worth the wait. If you're a fan of flash-in-the-pan stirfry sizzle, it might not be your cup of tea, but as i said at the start, well-worth the wait...

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Much better than I had anticipated!

I got this book because the plot looked interesting enough and it had all positive reviews. Am I ever glad that I purchased this book! The narrator was amazing and the story was captivating. Don't be fooled as this is not a romance. More of a coming of age novel for all three women who are the main characters. I could almost feel myself in colonial India, and understand why the British were not wanted there any longer. One of my top rated audiobooks ever listened to!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Narrator

I think I could listen to just about anything narrated by Tania Rodrigues. Her reading is wonderfully subtle and nuanced, and she makes this unambitious novel about British women who travel to India at the end of the Raj era more engaging and enjoyable.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Journey to India

If you could sum up East of the Sun in three words, what would they be?

Compelling, colorful, and dramatic.
I enjoyed this long but involving story. Even at 600 pages, it kept my interest until nearly the end, then it felt a little bit too dragged out and anti climatic. The ending seemed abrupt. However, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to take dramatic journey to an India on the cusp of independence from English rule. The politics of the time are a backdrop but not a major part of the story, but the turmoil of the time does inform the events surrounding the characters.
The narration by Tania Rodrigues was perfect !

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen

Interesting characters, well read and engaging with a wonderful ending.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Lovely Book

This is a great historical, romance epic novel. The narrator is excellent and the story is captivating. Loved learning some history of India while following the lives of the three women characters. This book is a delight to listen to and I look forward to another book by Julia Gregson soon. Well worth the time and credit!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Engaging

I LOVED how the author tied a larger world-view up in the stories of three quite different ladies. I liked how the story slowly unfolded...I find this resembles how life works...generally no huge cathartic epiphanies, but smaller, slower revelations that lend themselves to a larger awareness or understanding. I had a difficult time turning this one off at the end of each commute.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

East Of The Sun

this is a very good book characters are well developedStory flowed well.

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1 person found this helpful