(Weidenfeld & Nicolson $39.99)
This Fishing Fleet has nothing to do with cod or snapper. It's a witty, whimsical account of the boatloads of British belles, who, from the mid-18th century to the mid-20th century, were shipped out to India to marry English males.
It was a policy rooted in racism: no way could an officer and a gentleman wed a coloured woman. And it didn't always bring belles: many of the "superfluous women" who came to the sub-continent were poor, plain or "old maids" (i.e. over 25). Their only alternative was often the lowly life of a governess, or prostitution.
Once they arrived, the women - or girls; some brides were 16 and some grooms 19 - were paraded at parties to which bachelors flocked to make their pick. A letter home from one young officer announces his marriage in one sentence. He then spends twice as many words describing other local fauna.
The fishing fleets arrived to a society of rampant snobbery. Even postprandial visits to the loo were conducted according to rank. One governor threatened to tie a rope around a servant's neck and hang him over the side of a boat for speaking too loudly. A new arrival was shocked to have her hair brushed by "skinny black hands". You want to smack a few spoiled legs.
