The Mandel family is rich, powerful and superstitious. Twenty years ago things were very different when they arrived in Calcutta, starving and penniless, intent

When Hermione - eccentric, seventy and returned from India to a 'safe' life in the Home Counties - encounters Slug street-painting on the pavement, she employs

"This is a remarkable collection of information on Indian women's writing written originally in English. Beginning from the 19th century, it introduces 444 writ