The Karma of Love

The Karma of Love is #14 in the Bantam series and was published in January 1975. Francis Marshall does a similar illustration for both books, but swaps the couple in the Corgi (UK) cover. This books is about Orissa and how she flees to India to live with her military uncle and her encounters with Major Meredith.

This is a gorgeous illustration and I've always had a fascination with India which stems from Barbara Cartland's books and Francis Marshall's beautiful covers. Note the similarities in the covers: the sari that our heroine wears, the major's uniform, the cannon and fort, etc. The only difference I see is that the Bantam cover has our couple a little more tan, maybe to relate to the US market? Our Corgi heroine seems more fragile than the Bantam one.

India was part of the British Empire in 1885 and the British were trying to keep it safe from the Russians and Afghans during this time in history. Many spies flourished during this time and it's interesting that even nowadays, English is intermixed with Hindi when Indians speak (just watch a Bollywood movie)! India became an independent nation in 1947.