Monsoon Summer

October 3, 2016
This ambitious historical novel from Gregson (East of the Sun) follows British nurse and aspiring midwife Kit Smallwood, who marries an Oxford-educated doctor, Anto Thekkeden, and moves with him to India shortly after the country gains independence in 1947
. Haunted by the death of a baby on her watch, Kit is reluctant to pursue her midwife certificate. Nonetheless, she promises family friend Daisy Barker that she’ll help get Daisy’s favorite charity, a clinic for poor women called the Moonstone, up and running. Kit and Anto soon realize that their idealistic plans will be challenged by Anto’s wealthy high-caste family. Kit is especially disparaged by Anto’s mother, Kunjamma, who hoped that after his long absence abroad he would marry a local girl of similar status. Kit learns that the Moonstone is in dire need of staff and supplies, and begins to dedicate more and more of her time to the increasingly risky
job, much to her new family’s chagrin. Strong characters make Gregson’s novel a powerhouse. The need to preserve honor and avoid shame drives the Thekkeden clan and leads them to keep secrets from one another that snowball. Kit’s desire to help people eventually gets her into trouble with both her family and the law. Gregson does a fantastic job of pitting conventional ways against progressive thinking without demonizing either side. This story covers a lot of ground—family vs. the other, new vs. old, science vs. superstition—and only falters when bending the plot a certain way at convenient points. This small flaw doesn’t detract from a powerful and memorable novel.

July 1, 2016
In the aftermath of WWII, Kit Smallwood leaves bombed-out London for the respite of Oxfordshire to help a family friend set up Moonstone Home, a maternity hospital in India. Kit, a former midwifery student too traumatized to finish her training, intends to restrict herself to administrative work until she meets Anto, an Indian doctor who is doing translation for the charity. Defying the objections of Kit's mother and the arranged marriage waiting for Anto, they marry and set off for India. But while Kit arrives optimistic about her marriage and her work, before long she is chafing against the restrictions placed on her by Anto's traditional family and by a society that looks down on midwives. As she is drawn further into the world of Moonstone Home, anti-English sentiment in newly independent India begins to threaten both her work and those she loves. Gregson (Jasmine Nights, 2012) draws on accounts of the experiences of English midwives in India to weave a compelling tale of the complex ties of family, class, and culture.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)