Amazon reviewer: “I’ve had
this book on my Kindle for a while but it never seemed to make it to the top of
my ‘to read’ list. I finished a couple of smaller books and was looking for a
chunky read to immerse myself in a different part of the world, and spanning
many years and generations, and ‘Of Marriageable Age’ ticked all those boxes.”
A “chunky read”, indeed! Of
Marriageable Age spans three decades and three continents, following the
disparate stories of three very diverse characters. Savitri, a servant girl
growing up during the British Raj challenges the constrictions imposed on her
by her orthodox Brahmin family, but, it seems, tradition will get the better of
her.
Nataraj, the son of a village
doctor in South India, grows up questioning his background and struggling to
find his place in a rapidly changing world. Protected from modern life he has
only his father as guiding light, but everything changes when he decides that
he, too, will become a “Sahib doctor”.
Saroj, a headstrong girl grows up in Guyana,
South America, caught up in an ongoing battle against the rigid expectations of
her Hindu father. She manages to escape and finally comes of age in England;
but a dark family secret challenges the future she has so carefully planned.
From the 1920s to the 1960s,
the lives of these three characters that seem so separate are inexorably,
intertwined, but the mystery of exactly how only becomes clear as their
stories progress. The stories unfold against a background of immense cultural
and political upheaval; both British Guiana and India are in the throes of
their struggles for Independence from Great Britain, while World War 2 wreaks
havoc on two continents. A family saga and love story to sink your soul into.
Author Sharon Maas
Sharon Maas was born into a prominent political family in
Georgetown, Guyana, in 1951. Her mother was one of Guyana’s earliest feminists,
human rights activists and consumer advocates. Her father was Pres Secretary
for the then Opposition Leader and Later President of Guyana, Cheddi Jagan.
In 1961, when she was only ten, she went to Harrogate
Ladies’ College, travelling all the way to England on her own. In 1964 she returned
to Guyana to attend High School and then in 1967 she returned to Harrogate.
After leaving school, she worked as a trainee reporter with
the Guyana Graphic in Georgetown. She later wrote feature articles for the
Sunday Chronicle as a staff journalist.
Sharon has always had a great sense of adventure and
curiosity about the world we live in. In 1971, at the age of twenty, she set
off on a year-long backpacking trip around South America, visiting Brazil,
Peru, Ecuador and Colombia with two friends. A twist of fate forced her to
abandon the adventure.
Robbed of her money, she returned home. Her travel
articles were published in the Guyana Chronicle.
In 1973 she travelled overland to
India through Europe, Turkey, Iran Afghanistan and Pakistan. India became a
source of inspiration and a second home for her in body, soul and mind. Her
first visit to India expanded into two years of living in an ashram in Tamil
Nadu. There too she met the German cellist who would become her first husband.
She moved to Germany in 1975.
After divorce and a year spent in
Paris, Sharon returned to Germany where she studied Social Work in Freiburg-in-Breisgau.
She met her second husband while working as a Probation Officer.
Her first novel, Of Marriageable
Age, is set in Guyana and India and was published by HarperCollins in 1999.
Several more novels followed, two published by HarperCollins. She moved to the
digital publisher Bookouture in 2013 and now has ten novels under her belt.
She has also self-published The
Mahabharata: Sons of Gods, a retelling of the great Indian epic which has
always fascinated her. She has worked at this for 40 years, on and off, and
first made it available to the public in2011. In 2020 she has used the lockdown
to revise it yet again and republish it with a professional cover. She believes
it is a classical work that deserves more exposure in the West.
links:
Twitter: @sharon_maas
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