I stole this off my sisters bookshelves more than a year ago, and she hasn't mised it, its not her sort of book anyway so it is probably as well that I rescued it. It has taken me along time to get around to reading it, and as always happens when you have continuallly over look a book, you find when you finally get around to reading it you love it.

This is the third novel I have read by this author, and my favorite. Described on the jacket as an Indian comedy of manners. It concerns two Indian families in some unspecified time after partition. One fsmily is rather prosperous, the other less so, although they too had once been wealthy and belonged to that section of society. The Esmond of the title is a rather unlikeable character married to the neice/daughter of the poorer family. Shakuntala, the daughter of the wealthy family, returns from college, idealistic and romantic.

I enjoyed this so much, a hectic far too busy week meant I was forced to savour this and read it much slower than maybe I would have liked. Which has meant that the one bright spot in a week when I have been fed up and exhausted has been this lovely book.