In 1855, Lady Charlotte Canning accompanied her husband when he was appointed Governor-General of India. Her six-year exile from England, ending in her death in Calcutta, is recorded in a collecton of letters and sketches. The letters, over 50 to Queen Victoria, to whom she was a cherished and indefatigable correspondent, evoke the quality of the British connection with India.
The Cannings' tenure was marred by the Indian Mutiny and political pressures from England, but Charlotte used her personal loneliness and solitude to study the plight of Indian women, to explore the Himalayas and to convey through her regular correspondence with the Queen and others how it is to be seduced by India. An engaging footnote in the annals of the Raj.