A damaged past, a lonely marriage. Too late for love?
from the award-winning author of A Greater World
A gripping story of love and loss in British colonial India.
It is 1936. Ginny Dunbar, an 18-year-old debutante, has been exploited for years by a charismatic, older man and is under the thumb of a well-meaning but bossy mother. When she is caught up in a scandal, her marriage prospects are ruined – until a new start on a tea plantation in India offers another chance to find love and happiness.
But Ginny’s own inner demons, her new husband’s expectations, the shallow, lifestyle of the expatriate British community and her mother-in-law’s bullying conspire to sour her dreams of happiness.
When Ginny meets Jagadish Mistry, she’s forced to question her own prejudices about India and its people ”” until the outbreak of war changes everything.
Set in the beautiful tea growing uplands of British colonial India during World War II and the struggle for independence, Kurinji Flowers traces a young woman’s journey through loss, loneliness, hope, and betrayal to unexpected love and self-discovery.
A wartime romance and a story of interracial love that will keep you up all night.
˃˃˃ Interview with the author about Kurinji Flowers Q: Where did the idea for the book originate?
A: I was on holiday in Kerala and unable to sleep one night I began to imagine who might have slept in the hotel room around the time it was built in the 1930s. By the time I eventually drifted off to sleep I had the core of the story worked out. The book is set in a fictional town called Mudoorayam but is loosely based on Munnar in Kerala. The area around is prime tea planting country with tea plantations all around the town.
I went back to stay on a plantation to finish the book, living in a 1930s tea planter’s bungalow just like my character, Ginny. I was able to walk in her shoes, seeing the countryside, the vegetation, smells and sounds of the area as well as the wildlife and flowers.
˃˃˃ Q – What are the kurinji flowers of the title?
Kurinji flowers – or to give them their full title Neelakurinji – grow only in the region of South India where the novel is set. What makes them so special is they only bloom once every twelve years. When they come out they cover the hillsides in a carpet of purply blue flowers and nowadays people travel from all over India to witness the flowering. The next main flowering is due in 2018. I hope to go back to India to see it.
