The novel is set in the British Raj. It follows on from the storyline in The Jewel in the Crown and The Day of the Scorpion. Many of the events are retellings from different points of view of events that happened in the previou… See more

The novel begins with the story of Barbie Batchelor, a retired missionary schoolteacher, who finds a place as a paying guest with Mabel Layton, a member of the aristocracy of the English in India, at Rose Cotta… See more