The Lady and the Unicorn: A Virago Modern Classic

Description

By the author of Black Narcissus and The River 'Rumer Godden's novels have a timeless shimmer' GUARDIAN 'Touching, amusing, enchanting . . . an exceptional work' OBSERVER 'Her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty' NEW YORK TIMES In a crumbling Calcutta mansion, with faded frescos and a jasmine-covered garden, the Lemarchant family live, clinging to the fringes of respectability: neither Indian nor English, they are accepted by no one and exploited by all. After only a day in India, Stephen Bright meets Rosa Lemarchant. In an ill-fitting dress once belonging to her sister, she is awkward, shy and couldn't be more different from the stories he has heard of fast 'Eurasian' girls. Ignorant of Calcutta's strict codes of conformity, he falls in love with Rosa and becomes enchanted by the building in which she lives, determined to uncover its secrets. Mystery pervades this story of a memory-haunted house in old Calcutta, as secret as a sundial in a ruined garden.

Rumer Godden (1907-1998) was the acclaimed author of over sixty works of fiction and non-fiction for adults and children. Born in England, she and her siblings grew up in Narayanganj, India, and she later spent many years living in Kolkata and Kashmir. Several of her novels were made into films, including Black Narcissus, The Greengage Summer and The River, which was filmed by Jean Renoir. She was appointed OBE in 1993.

Touching, amusing, enchanting . . . an exceptional work - Observer This tale of a haunted house in a decayed quarter of Calcutta cannot fail to delight . . . graceful and perceptive - Scotsman