Book Review: 'Captured by Moonlight' by Christine Lindsay

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Captured by Moonlight

By Christine Lindsay 

Publisher's Synopsis: 

After a daring rescue goes awry, the parched north of India grows too hot for nurse Laine Harkness and her friend Eshana. The women flee to the tropical south...and run headlong into their respective pasts.

Laine takes a new nursing position at a plantation in the jungle, only to discover that her former fiancé is the owner...and that Adam has no more to say to her now than he did when he crushed her years ago. Why, then, is she still drawn to him, and to the tiger cub he is raising?

Eshana, captured by her traditional uncle and forced once more into the harsh Hindu customs of mourning, doubts whether freedom will ever again be in her future, much less the forbidden love that had begun to whisper to her. Is faith enough to live on? Or is her Savior calling her home?

Amid cyclones and epidemics, clashing faiths and consequences of the war, will the love of the True Master give hope to these searching hearts? 

What I thought: 
Captured by Moonlight is the second gripping instalment of Christine Lindsay’s “Twilight of the British Raj” series.  This second book follows Eshana’s next season and focuses on Abby’s friend, Laine Harkness, as she escapes from Amritsar and those who seek to punish the British woman who stole one of the temple girls.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Laine better, after meeting her in Shadowed in Silk.  Laine is a complex character whom Lindsay portrays brilliantly.  Her grit and determination are threaded with the colours of old wounds and a delicate tenderness that makes her a diligent, skilled nurse.  She works and fights hard, and cares deeply.  I felt like I was right in the room every time Laine and Adam were together and Laine’s inner turmoil was palpable.

I was particularly taken with Eshana’s journey throughout this book.  I’m not sure I would have endured all she did with such grace and dignity, especially when treated with such disrespect.  Eshana’s circumstances reminded me of the apostle Paul and his willingness to surrender his will to God’s purposes.  I loved the little rays of sunshine that Eshana’s visitor, Ruchi bring to her whilst she is imprisoned.  She infused a sense of brightness and hope that balanced the darkness of those days for Eshana.

As well as beautifully depicted characters this book is awash with mystery, intrigue and life-threatening events.  Christine Lindsay’s ingenious craftsmanship as a storyteller is clearly obvious as she develops her characters as well as the plot lines that had me completely and fully engaged.  There was just no way to extricate myself from this story, even when asleep!  I was desperate to know if the cholera epidemic would be contained, and whether my favourite characters were safe.  I wondered if Laine and Adam would ever be able to heal the wounds between them.  The mystery behind the men living on Adam’s plantation simply had to be resolved!

I am incredibly impatient to read the third and final instalment of this series, Veiled at Midnight, which is scheduled to release in August this year.  If the first two books are any indication Christine Lindsay will again weave her literary excellence and all my remaining questions will be delightfully resolved.


With thanks to Christine Lindsay for my review copy.

This review is entirely my own opinion and not coerced in any way.