Fanny Parkes lived in India between 1822 and 1846 and was the ideal travel writer – courageous, indefatigably curious and determinedly independent. Her journals trace her transformation from prim memsahib to eccentric, sitar-playing Indophile, fluent in Urdu, critical of British rule and passionate in her appreciation of Indian culture. Fanny is fascinated by the trial of thugs, the adorning of a Hindu bride and swears by the efficacy of opium on headaches. To read her is to get as close as one can to a true picture of early colonial India – the sacred and the profane, the violent and the beautiful, the straight-laced sahibs and the ‘White Mughals’ who fell in love with India, married Indian wives and built bridges between the two cultures.

范妮-帕克斯在1822年至1846年期间生活在印度，是一位理想的旅行作家--勇敢、不屈不挠的好奇心和坚定的独立性。她的日记记录了她从原始的memsahib到古怪的、会弹西塔琴的印度爱好者的转变，她精通乌尔都语，对英国统治持批评态度，对印度文化的欣赏充满热情。范妮对暴徒的审判、印度教新娘的装饰非常着迷，并发誓鸦片对头痛的疗效。读她的书，就能尽可能地接近早期殖民地印度的真实面貌--神圣的和亵渎的，暴力的和美丽的，直率的萨希布和 "白莫卧儿"，他们爱上了印度，娶了印度妻子，在两种文化之间架起了桥梁。