Book description
Blaise and Mary arrive at Patna Hall, a hotel on India's shimmering
Coromandel coast, to spend part of their honeymoon. Patna Hall is as
beautiful and timeless as India itself, ruled over firmly and wise by
proprietor Auntie Sanni. For Mary it feels strangely like home. In a
week that will change the young couple's destiny, election fever grips
the Southern Indian state and Mary falls under the spell of the people,
the country - and Krishnan, godlike candidate for the Root and Flower
party . . . 'A sense of timelessness reminiscent of E. M. Forster . . .
social comedy slowly spirals into personal tragedy' The Times 'The prose
is as simple and luminous as the fantasy it elaborates . . . an
interlude of exoticism and sensuous pleasure' Independent On Sunday
'Sheer enjoyment' Guardian 'The miracle of this book is Godden's genius
for storytelling' Evening Standard
Rumer Godden was one of Britain's most distinguished authors, with
many justly famous and much-loved books for both adults and children
to her credit, including Black Narcissus and The Greengage
Summer . She was awarded the OBE in 1993 and died in 1998.
