Chapter 5…you would enjoy it here. Not the heat, I should think; no one seems to enjoy the heat. But the rest would enchant you. The colors, the spices, the scent of the air, they can place one in a strange, sensuous haze that is at turns unsettling and intoxicating. Most of all, I think you would enjoy the pleasure gardens. They are rather like our London parks, except far more green and lush, and full of the most remarkable flowers you have ever seen. You have always loved to be out among nature; this you would adore, I am quite sure of it.
…from Michael Stirling (the new Earl of Kilmartin) to the Countess of Kilmartin, one month after his arrival in India Francesca wanted a baby.
She had for quite some time, but it was only in recent months that she’d been able to admit as much to her
