Henrietta Clive's letters are remarkable on two counts. Firstly, they demonstrate that Jane Austen's contemporaries could be as robust and enterprising as their husbands – in Henrietta's case, considerably more so – and secondly, they direct the spotlight onto the little-visited interior of India at just the moment … when British rule was being consolidated throughout the subcontinent … The publisher – Eland – has built up a celebrated list of classic travel books, and this first-time publication is a worthy entrant to that list. Social history and imperial history blend happily with a travel tale of adventure.
Country Life

There is a generosity of spirit thoughout this entertaining book. Certainly Henrietta was an immensely privileged traveller, but she carried with her none of the 'cultural baggage' that many later Britons did. Henrietta exemplified the Enlightment woman. She was properly curious about nature, with her collections of shells, birds and flowers. She observed Hindu and Muslim religious ceremonies objectively, and without prejudice. It is perhaps no coincidence that her daughter Charlotte, who later became Duchess of Northumberland, was governess to the young Princess Victoria, who in turn developed a life-long affection for her Indian subjects.
The Times Literary Supplement, March 2010

Lady Clive is an immediately engaging and vivacious presence and it's not hard to see why Shields was captivated by her. [She] was an energetic seeker after self-improvement. She learned Persian and Hindustani, studied the Sufi poets, collected all manner of things animal, vegetable and mineral. Her papers highlight the not inconsiderable dangers she faced, from both the local populace in a country riven by conflict, and the local wildlife, as their caravan passes through tiger country...the picture that emerges of Lady Clive is, in Henrietta's own words, of 'a strange restless animal', forever questing, striking out into the India of her imagination.
The Tablet

Lady Henrietta Clive is one of a particular breed of independent British women … who transcended the confines and, presumably, boredom of being a woman at that time, by resolutely choosing to travel to far-flung spots. Clive was married to the son of the Governor of Madras, and travelled through southern India with her daughters, one of whom, Charly, went on to tutor the future Queen Victoria. Shields has managed her material well, interweaving extracts from Clives's journal with passages from Charly's diary. This is an important early female travel book and a delightfully colourful portrait of India in the late 18th century. This is an important early female travel book and a delightfully colourful portrait of India in the late 18th century.
The Sunday Telegraph

The journals of Lady Henrietta Clive are among the first written account of India by a British woman. Birds of Passage, a collection of extracts from her diaries collated by Nancy Shields, is a captivating encounter with a captivating continent.
Traveller