Read from August 23 to September 18, 2014

This was an interesting true story about Anita Delgado, a young Spanish dancer, who becomes an object of desirability that the Maharaja of Kapurthala must possess. Anita is much younger than the Maharaja when they meet but her parents are in a difficult financial position and the Maharaja offers a price for Anita's love that is too great to turn down. Anita agrees to marry the Indian Prince as long as she can be married in Europe first, have her own home where she will not be expected to live in the zenana, but will live as a European wife. Against his family and government wishes, the Maharaja of Kapurthala marries Anita Delgado, making her his Spanish princess. After a year of living in Europe, secretly married, Anita becomes pregnant. Naturally, Anita is terrified of the unknown changes that will soon occur once she arrives in India, an Eastern world she has only imagined. The Spanish princess will never be accepted by the Maharaja's family and the government will never acknowledge Delgado as the Maharani of Kapurthala. It is against Eastern traditional values and the government does not recognize mixed racial marriages. After all, it is the late 1800's, and India is still governed by England. Most importantly, the Prince is already married to others and he has gone against religious custom by not living with his established wives and concubine. The Maharaja's wives feel neglected by their husbands choice and his refusal to return home. He is besotted with his new wife and the wives will make sure Anita's life in India is one of loneliness and filled with difficulties. Anita will never be accepted in the zenana and Anita will always feel as if the other wives are plotting against her.

Although Anita was lonely in India, she did come to love many things about her new world. The Maharaja treated her wonderfully, showering Anita with beautiful jewels, jewels that would become Anitas source of pleasure and a sort of escapism. While the government may have spurned her, the subjects of India were fascinated by the Spanish dancer and she was able to charm others by her warmth, gentle nature, and kindness. Many of the other maharaja's of India were taken with the lovely European woman. The newspapers of the times were fascinated by Anita as well. Her husband relied upon her as a traveling companion, something his Indian wives were forbidden to do. Anita was also chosen by the Maharaja, over the other wives, to plan important events and the weddings of his sons. Anita enjoyed being the favored wife. It did not take long for Anita to grow accustomed to the fabulous lifestyle in India. However, the heat was unbearable and she was excruciatingly lonely most of the time and she missed her family.

The first World War brought about many changes and Anita becomes a great supporter of the soldiers from India. She saw to it that the men had warmer uniforms able to withstand the European climate, even taking it upon herself to sew the necessary suits herself. She and the Maharaja visited the frontlines of their Eastern soldiers and this earned both great respect. The Maharaja was a great contributor to the war efforts and was recognized for his generosity. But Anita will suffer the greatest loss due to the effects of war and it will send her into a horrific depression, where she will be at her weakest and most loneliest. Anita will make choices that will forever alter the course of her life and the lives of those she loves, alienating her greatest supporters. The Spanish princess will forever become a part of history, a part of history that was steeped in tradition, power, riches, and boundaries. Anita Delgado, the Spanish Dancer, will always be remembered as a fascinating woman of long forgotten times.

Thanks to NetGalley, Javier Moro, and Open Road Integrated Media for the awesome opportunity to read this wonderful portion of a history I had very little knowledge of. I thoroughly enjoyed every page. I found this book to be highly informative, creatively written and told, and I sincerely thank you for sharing the story, history, and traditions. :)

I found this book amazing. It gave me insight into a part or history I was not familiar with. This is one you must read.

A story steeped in history with romance, intrigue and heartbreak, The Dancer and the Raja takes you back to the early 1900s during the days when Great Britain and India were co-mingled. Here is the true story of a young woman struggling to be a part of two worlds but accepted by neither. Taken from her native Spain at seventeen, wed to an Indian Raja almost twenty years her senior and brought to India to live and learn the culture and language of a strange new world, Anita Delgado's life will never be the same again.

Javier Moro's detailed descriptions of the lavishness of the Indian royalty contrasted with the poverty stricken masses surrounding the palaces of Kapurthala (and all the other palaces of the many other rajas) make one think of the love story behind the building of the Taj Mahal and the tales of Aladdin. The reality of the lifestyles of the royals, however, is not always so pretty.

The culture clash between Indian and British is wrought with problems. The royal families were very reliant upon the British for their help in maintaining their "god given right to rule". War, politics and "rose colored glasses" do not mesh. Those individuals, like the Raja of Kapurthala, who desperately wish to blend such cultures by bringing the European into the Indian will spend their lifetime pitting "progress" against "the way it has always been".

Seen through Anita's eyes, her new life and the way of life her husband desires for his homeland give the reader an inside look at the behaviors, methods, hopes and desires of not only herself but of all those whose lives intersect and intertwine with her. Scorned, admired, loved and hated, Anita never allows herself to fade into the background. Determined to make this new life in a new land work for her, she learns as much as she can about everything India, how Britain's influences on India succeed and fail and, ultimately, how she can make a life for herself as a woman with two cultures.

This books is a historical fiction about an Indian raja who took a 17 year old Spanish dancer as his 5th wife. It is based on the diaries of the woman, Anita Delgado, and interviews with family and friends still alive. The couple met in 1908 when she and her sister were dancing at a Madrid theater to help the family. The raja was smitten and basically bought her from her parents for a dowery that made the family rich. The raja sent her to Paris in the care of a governess who basically educated her socially and taught her how to dress.

Then after a quick civil marriage in Paris, Anita and her governess sailed to India to meet the raja and marry in an elaborate ceremony. She also found out at that time that he had 4 other wives in residence. She was never fully accepted by the other Indian wives or the British as India was part of the British Empire at the time. The couple traveled in grand style all over Europe regularly. The raja eventually lost interest in her but they remained married until her son was 18. Then they divorced and she lived the rest of her life in Europe.
The book is fascinating because it exposes a lifestyle unimaginable to most readers.

5.0 out of 5 stars -- Sumptuous and fascinating historical fiction that is based on the life and times of a Spanish girl named Ana (Anita) Delgado Briones, who, at 17, left her family and everything familiar behind and traveled to India to wed His Highness Raja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala. She had no idea, nor was she even remotely prepared, to become the fifth wife -- nor did she realize that, as a European woman, she would not be awarded even the slightest degree of acceptance by his household, his people, or the British establishment there. Does Anita have what it takes to overcome tradition? Would this princess live happily ever after in a place wealthy beyond her dreams?

The details of her story are so well written that the reader is immediately engaged with Ana -- soon to be officially renamed Prem Jaur (Princess of love) -- and her unusual position in tumultuous times circa early 1900s. Facts are easily intertwined with very realistic imaginings of life at the palace, travel, politics, domestic travails, and many other encounters with the renowned people of that period in history in India and Europe. From the food, to the clothing, to Anita's intimate life with the Raja (think Kamasutra), to the birth of a child, to the beliefs and behavior of the various religions and culture, and intrigue in the zenana -- it's all here in such remarkable description that the reader believes it all could have happened just this way.

It's a great story that brought out the researcher in me and provided a wonderful examination of the people, customs and country that was India before the end of British Imperial oversight. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves historical fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media for the e-book to review.

My Thoughts Ever since reading M.M. Kaye’s The Far Pavilions, I’ve pretty much been a sucker for books set in the time of British held India. For some reason, this place and time period just fascinates me.

In The Dancer and the Raja, Mr. Muro provides us with his interpretation of the life of Anita Delgado. Anita is a young 17 year old Spanish dancer when she catches the eye of the maharaja of Kapurthala. Her family is poor, the Raj offers an incredible monetary sum to marry Anita and this is seen as a huge opportunity for Anita to have a better life.

As a Spaniard married to a prince from India, Anita is never accepted by the the British who rule India, or by the Raja’s family. The prince’s other wives see her as a threat. The British feel that a European women should have never lowered her standards to marry someone from India. What was supposed to be an ideal life for Anita ultimately turns into one of loneliness and rejection.

I found this book mesmerizing. Javier Moro write with such rich description of India in the early 1900s. I learned a great deal about the history of India through this story. This was one of those books that as soon as I read the last page, I wanted to reread it all over again. It was that magical.
I truly want to thank Open Road Publishing, via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this delightful book in exchange for an unbiased review.