Favorite Novels About the BRITISH EMPIRE
Below is a list of my favorite novels (in chronological order) that are set during the British Empire:
FAVORITE NOVELS ABOUT THE BRITISH EMPIRE
1. "A Passage to India" (1924) by E. M. Forster - Set during the British Raj and the Indian independence movement of the 1920s, this novel focused on four characters who deal with the impact of sexual assault allegations and the fear of miscegenation.
2. "Shadow of the Moon" (1957/1979) by M.M. Kaye - This novel told the story about Anglo-Spanish heiress Winter de Ballesteros and British Army Captain Alex Randall's experiences before and during the 1857-58 Sepoy Rebellion.
3. "Tai-pan" (1966) by James Clavell - This novel is about a British opium trader and his fellow European and American traders, who establish the Hong Kong colony in 1842; following the end of the First Opium War. This is James Clavell's second novel in his Asian Saga.
4. "The Bastard" (1974) by John Jakes - The first novel in John Jakes' Kent Family Chronicles series told the story of the bastard of a retired French actress and an English peer who travels to colonial Massachusetts following his failure to collect an inheritance; and his experiences leading up to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.
5. "Flashman in the Great Game" (1975) by George MacDonald Fraser - This novel recount the roguish Harry Flashman's experiences during the Sepoy Rebellion. This is George MacDonald Fraser's fifth novel in his Flashman Papers series.
6. "Liberty Tavern" (1976) by Thomas Fleming - This novel told the story about the experiences of a retired and widowed British Army officer, his stepchildren, his sister-in-law and her family during the American Revolution in New Jersey.
7. "The Thorn Birds" (1977) by Colleen McCullough - Set on a fictional sheep station in the Australian Outback between 1915 and 1969, this novel told the story of Meghann "Meggie" Cleary, her family and her love for Father Ralph de Bricassart.
8. "Zemindar" (1981) by Valerie Fitzgerald - This novel is about a young English woman who travels to India as the companion of her younger cousin and the latter's new husband. There, they become acquainted with the husband's older and wealthy half-brother before experiencing the events of the Sepoy Rebellion.
9. "Noble House" (1981) by James Clavell - The fourth novel of Clavell's Asian Saga told the story of a British trader's struggles to rescue his company from the precarious financial position left by his predecessor in 1963 Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Chinese communists, Taiwanese nationalists, and Soviet spies vie for influence in Hong Kong, while the British government seeks to prevent their actions.
10. "Flashman and the Dragon" (1985) - by George MacDonald Fraser - This novel recount the roguish Harry Flashman's experiences during the Taiping Rebellion and the Second Opium War. This is Fraser's eighth novel in his Flashman Papers series.
11. The Long Song" (2010) by Andrea Levy - This is the story of a Jamaican woman's experiences as a slave during the final years of slavery in Jamaica and as a newly emancipated woman during the transition to freedom that took place thereafter.