Awards

• Long-listed for Baileys Women's Prize 2014
• Short-listed for Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel 2016

Overview

Set in the untamed wilds of nineteenth-century colonial India, this dazzling historical thriller introduces Blake and Avery—an unforgettable investigative pair. India, 1837: William Avery is a young soldier with few prospects except rotting away in campaigns in India; Jeremiah Blake is a secret political agent gone native, a genius at languages and disguises, disenchanted with the whole ethos of British rule, but who cannot resist the challenge of an unresolved mystery. What starts as a wild goose chase for this unlikely pair—trying to track down a missing writer who lifts the lid on Calcutta society—becomes very much more sinister as Blake and Avery get sucked into the mysterious Thuggee cult and its even more ominous suppression. There are shades of Heart of Darkness, sly references to Conan Doyle, that bring brilliantly to life the India of the 1830s with its urban squalor, glamorous princely courts and bazaars, and the ambiguous presence of the British overlords—the officers of the East India Company—who have their own predatory ambitions beyond London's oversight. A FINALIST FOR THE EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

Full Product Details

9780425280744

Table of Contents

Reviews

Praise for THE STRANGLER VINE Enthralling . . . The Strangler Vine is more than just a picturesque quest through exotic lands. Carter makes a subtle critique of how fact and fiction, myth and history intertwine. The Washington Post The Strangler Vine is a splendid novel with an enthralling story, a wonderfully drawn atmosphere, and an exotic mystery that captivated me. Bernard Cornwell Thoroughly researched . . . entertaining . . . This tale of two ill-yoked companions involved in conspiracy and betrayal is a welcome addition to the surprisingly thin body of novels about the great and at times appalling imperial adventure. The Wall Street Journal Wonderful reading, I just couldn t put it down. Nancy Pearl [A] yarn reminiscent of adventures by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The New York Post M. J. Carter has given her readers a cracking-good old-style adventure yarn. There is mystery, murder, highway robbery, a sinister religious cult, a tiger hunt and danger and intrigue everywhere. . . . Carter, adept with a delightful turn of phrase, paints a vivid picture of mid-19th-century India, from the teeming bazaars to the pricely palaces, while exploring the strangler vine of British rule in India. Highly recommended. The Free Lance Star Shades of H. Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling! Fans of the old-school adventure genre, in which brave heroes plunge into an unspeakable wilderness, finding danger at every step, should rejoice. . . . An absolute corker of a read, with marvelous characterization and trenchant historical analysis. Booklist (starred review) Superior fiction debut . . . The quest takes some surprising turns, and Carter is masterly at keeping the reader guessing what s really going on. The final revelation is jaw-dropping Publishers Weekly (starred review) From the thrilling prolog to the satisfying conclusion, former journalist and nonfiction author Carter s first foray into fiction hooks the reader into a ripping adventure ride, full of danger, conspiracy, and trickery. Carter s clever historical thriller is a winner. The details of life in 1830s India are enthralling, as is the history of the Thugs. Historical fiction fans who love action, adventure, and intrigue supported by incredible research will devour this novel, which was longlisted for the 2014 Baileys Women s Prize for Fiction. Library Journal (starred review) In the great detective novel tradition of The Moonstone and the Sherlock Holmes series, by way of The Glass Books trilogy, Carter s debut isa thriller set in 1837 India. Two mismatched men from the East India Company, William Avery and Jeremiah Blake, are sent off to rescue Byronic poet-adventurerXavier Mountstuartfrom a murderous sect of Kali worshippers. With gorgeous historical detail and deft characterization, Carter creates a rip-roaring detective romp while also casting a gimlet eye on the effects of British imperialism and colonization of India. Susan Elia MacNeal, New York Times -bestselling author of the Maggie Hope series This is a gripping story of conspiracy and betrayal set in an early Victorian India that is rendered with complete conviction. And as a historian, the author offers a thought-provoking re-interpretation of the Thuggee story. Charles Palliser, international bestselling author of The Quincunx M. J. Carter has cooked up a spicy dish: a pinch of Moonstone, a dash of Sherlock and a soupcon of Fu Manchu added to a rich stew of John Masters. A splendid romp and just the job for a cold winter's evening in front of a blazing fire William Dalrymple, author of White Mugals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India An exciting fictional debut . . . The Strangler Vine represents what must be a lifetime spent reading and soaking up Indian history and geography: you feel yourself to be in India -- in its grand palaces and its bazaars; in its colonial offices and in its jungles. Clothes, food, languages, and the physical appearance of all the characters, Indian and European, are evoked with Tolstoyan freshness . . . As well as being a rattling good yarn in the traditions of GA Henty or Rudyard Kipling, this is also a well-informed and enlightened modern book that has a properly skeptical view of imperialist propaganda. I do not remember when I enjoyed a novel more than this. AN Wilson, the Financial Times A strangler vine is a plant that chokes the life out of its host tree. In this erudite thriller, MJ Carter uses the image to describe the relationship between the East India Company and the colonized country being suffocated in its grip . . . fresh and original with many surprises in store . . . history subtly and intelligently entwines itself around a cracking good plot. London Evening Standard Lots of fast-moving drama, but [also] a carefully researched setting in early Victorian India . . . Carter gives us delicious descriptions of the wonderful court of a Rao, or Rajah: the hunting cheetahs, elephants wound about with golden chains. There are horrors too: the famine surrounding this dazzling wealth, the criminals executed by elephant-trampling. But ever onwards through the jungle presses the gallant young Avery, encountering treachery and violence, finally triumphing after many perils as a hero should. It s a great read, white tigers and all. The Independent [An] excellent first novel . . . It blends John Masters, William Boyd, Wilkie Collins, and the Conan Doyle of Brigadier Gerard and the more orientalist Holmes stories to create a witty and entrancing historical thriller. . . . An inspired mix of sensation novel and odd-couple road novel, The Strangler Vine has a smirking sense of the absurdity of the whole colonial project. The Guardian The best elements of an old-fashioned ripping yarn unite with a plot that makes clever use of recent historical ideas about the British in India in MJ Carter s The Strangler Vine . . . Carter s twisting, devious narrative is enhanced by her vigorous prose and her convincing delineation of her chief characters, whose further adventures, already announced, can be keenly anticipated. Sunday Times The story is exciting, the mystery real and its setting vividly evoked I am already looking forward to the next one. The Literary Review The Strangler Vine is a considerable achievement, which left me waiting impatiently for a promised sequel. The Times Intelligent, extensively researched and packed with period detail, The Strangler Vine evokes both the attitudes of the British colonials and the India of the period. Metro A meticulously researched historical novel with a subversive and startling sting in its tail. The Spectator From the Hardcover edition.

Praise for THE STRANGLER VINE Totally engrossing -- the sort of story that makes you forget that there are other books stacked next to your bed, waiting to be read. --Michael Lewis, The New York Times Book Review Enthralling . . . The Strangler Vine is more than just a picturesque quest through exotic lands. Carter makes a subtle critique of how fact and fiction, myth and history intertwine. --The Washington Post The Strangler Vine is a splendid novel with an enthralling story, a wonderfully drawn atmosphere, and an exotic mystery that captivated me. --Bernard Cornwell Thoroughly researched . . . entertaining . . . This tale of two ill-yoked companions involved in conspiracy and betrayal is a welcome addition to the surprisingly thin body of novels about the great and at times appalling imperial adventure. --The Wall Street Journal Wonderful reading, I just couldn't put it down. --Nancy Pearl [A] yarn reminiscent of adventures by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. --The New York Post M. J. Carter has given her readers a cracking-good old-style adventure yarn. There is mystery, murder, highway robbery, a sinister religious cult, a tiger hunt and danger and intrigue everywhere. . . . Carter, adept with a delightful turn of phrase, paints a vivid picture of mid-19th-century India, from the teeming bazaars to the pricely palaces, while exploring the strangler vine of British rule in India. Highly recommended. --The Free Lance Star Shades of H. Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling! Fans of the old-school adventure genre, in which brave heroes plunge into an unspeakable wilderness, finding danger at every step, should rejoice. . . . An absolute corker of a read, with marvelous characterization and trenchant historical analysis. --Booklist (starred review) Superior fiction debut . . . The quest takes some surprising turns, and Carter is masterly at keeping the reader guessing what's really going on. The final revelation is jaw-dropping --Publishers Weekly (starred review) From the thrilling prolog to the satisfying conclusion, former journalist and nonfiction author Carter's first foray into fiction hooks the reader into a ripping adventure ride, full of danger, conspiracy, and trickery. Carter's clever historical thriller is a winner. The details of life in 1830s India are enthralling, as is the history of the Thugs. Historical fiction fans who love action, adventure, and intrigue supported by incredible research will devour this novel, which was longlisted for the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. --Library Journal (starred review) In the great detective novel tradition of The Moonstone and the Sherlock Holmes series, by way of The Glass Books trilogy, Carter's debut is a thriller set in 1837 India. Two mismatched men from the East India Company, William Avery and Jeremiah Blake, are sent off to rescue Byronic poet-adventurer Xavier Mountstuart from a murderous sect of Kali worshippers. With gorgeous historical detail and deft characterization, Carter creates a rip-roaring detective romp -- while also casting a gimlet eye on the effects of British imperialism and colonization of India. --Susan Elia MacNeal, New York Times-bestselling author of the Maggie Hope series This is a gripping story of conspiracy and betrayal set in an early Victorian India that is rendered with complete conviction. And as a historian, the author offers a thought-provoking re-interpretation of the Thuggee story. --Charles Palliser, international bestselling author of The Quincunx M. J. Carter has cooked up a spicy dish: a pinch of Moonstone, a dash of Sherlock and a soupcon of Fu Manchu added to a rich stew of John Masters. A splendid romp and just the job for a cold winter's evening in front of a blazing fire --William Dalrymple, author of White Mugals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India An exciting fictional debut . . . The Strangler Vine represents what must be a lifetime spent reading and soaking up Indian history and geography: you feel yourself to be in India -- in its grand palaces and its bazaars; in its colonial offices and in its jungles. Clothes, food, languages, and the physical appearance of all the characters, Indian and European, are evoked with Tolstoyan freshness . . . As well as being a rattling good yarn in the traditions of GA Henty or Rudyard Kipling, this is also a well-informed and enlightened modern book that has a properly skeptical view of imperialist propaganda. I do not remember when I enjoyed a novel more than this. --AN Wilson, the Financial Times A strangler vine is a plant that chokes the life out of its host tree. In this erudite thriller, MJ Carter uses the image to describe the relationship between the East India Company and the colonized country being suffocated in its grip . . . fresh and original with many surprises in store . . . history subtly and intelligently entwines itself around a cracking good plot. --London Evening Standard Lots of fast-moving drama, but [also] a carefully researched setting in early Victorian India . . . Carter gives us delicious descriptions of the wonderful court of a Rao, or Rajah: the hunting cheetahs, elephants wound about with golden chains. There are horrors too: the famine surrounding this dazzling wealth, the criminals executed by elephant-trampling. But ever onwards through the jungle presses the gallant young Avery, encountering treachery and violence, finally triumphing after many perils as a hero should. It's a great read, white tigers and all. --The Independent [An] excellent first novel . . . It blends John Masters, William Boyd, Wilkie Collins, and the Conan Doyle of Brigadier Gerard and the more orientalist Holmes stories to create a witty and entrancing historical thriller. . . . An inspired mix of sensation novel and odd-couple road novel, The Strangler Vine has a smirking sense of the absurdity of the whole colonial project. --The Guardian The best elements of an old-fashioned ripping yarn unite with a plot that makes clever use of recent historical ideas about the British in India in MJ Carter's The Strangler Vine . . . Carter's twisting, devious narrative is enhanced by her vigorous prose and her convincing delineation of her chief characters, whose further adventures, already announced, can be keenly anticipated. --Sunday Times The story is exciting, the mystery real and its setting vividly evoked...I am already looking forward to the next one. --The Literary Review The Strangler Vine is a considerable achievement, which left me waiting impatiently for a promised sequel. --The Times Intelligent, extensively researched and packed with period detail, The Strangler Vine evokes both the attitudes of the British colonials and the India of the period. --Metro A meticulously researched historical novel with a subversive and startling sting in its tail. --The Spectator

Author Information

M.J. Carter is the author of the Blake and Avery novels, including The Devil's Feast, The Infidel Stain, and The Strangler Vine.  A former journalist, she is also the author of two acclaimed works of nonfiction, Anthony Blunt: His Lives and George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I. She is married with two sons and lives in London.

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