Desmond's Daughter

566pp. Red cloth boards (just a little rubbed along edges and rounded at corners). Internally bright and clean, barring previous owner's inscription on front endpaper. Popular edition. Maud Diver (the pen name of Katherine Marshall was an India-born English writer. Her first novel, Captain Desmond, VC, was published in 1907. This and subsequent books were popular, making contemporary bestseller lists. She wrote in the imperial romance genre - popular at the time - but unlike her contemporary, Kipling, Diver was largely forgotten by later generations. Recent interest in her books has been triggered by their recognition as a source of information for studies on Anglo-Indian culture. She took a different view from Kipling however, arguing that East and West could and should blend. At the same time, however, she feared over dilution of the English bloodline, as is made clear in this novel.