Renita D'Silva

She allows herself to kiss her perfect child just once. She wraps the baby in her last gift: a hand-knitted cardigan, embroidered with a water lily pattern. 'You're better off without me,' she whispers and although every step breaks her heart, she walks away. 1910, India. Young and curious Alice grows up in her family's sprawling compound with parents as remote as England, the cold country she has never seen. It is Raju, son of a servant, with whom...