Monday, May 25, 2009

Coronation Talkies by Susan Kurosawa



A charming, funny, engaging novel set in India at the end of British rule. It tells the story of Lydia who enters into a hasty marriage with with an Englishman living in India and Mrs Banerjee who comes to the station to set up a talking picture theatre.

Lydia moves from her quiet, English village to the very wet Indian hill station of Chalaili. This sodden, not quite fashionable town is full of fascinating characters, Indian, English and Anglo-Indian. Mrs Banerjee is hilarious as she sets up Coronation Talkies and enliven the society in Chalaili.

There is gossip and scandal, love and hate, betrayal and blackmail and a lovely look at the end of England's rule in India.