Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses enslavement and racist violence.

The EJC within the novel is a near-exact parallel of the East India Company, a British company that exercised trade and rule over South and Southeast Asia from 1600 to 1874. The EIC was responsible for much of the global trade during the 1700s and 1800s, as well as atrocities and colonialism. The company was deeply involved in enslavement and the establishment of the British Raj (British rule) in India. The end of the EIC coincided with the beginning of the Victorian Era, which lasted from roughly 1837 to 1901, during the reign of Queen Victoria. During her early rule, the EJC’s power in India was severely weakened when the British government stepped in to establish direct rule over India in the wake of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Within the context of the novel, the revelation that Lady Linden and the Ram are the same person reflects this historical change in power, demonstrating that the colonizing power of the EJC/EIC and the crown are one and the same—not separate entities, as the characters formerly believed.

In this and other instances, A Tempest of Tea plays loosely with Victorian England’s gender norms, primarily through the role of Lady Linden.