High in the Himalayas near Darjeeling, the old mountaintop palace shines like a jewel. When it was the General’s ‘harem’, richly dressed ladies wandered the windswept terraces; at night, music floated out over the gorge. Now, the General’s son has bestowed it on an order of nuns, the Sisters of Mary.

Well-intentioned yet misguided, the nuns set about taming the gardens and opening a school and dispensary for the villagers. They are dependent on the local English agent of Empire, Mr Dean; but his charm and insolent candour are disconcerting. And the implacable emptiness of the mountain, the ceaseless winds, exact a toll on the Sisters. When Mr Dean says bluntly, ‘This is no place for a nunnery,’ it is as if he foresees their destiny…

‘A very remarkable novel indeed. One in a thousand’ Observer