Once Upon A Summer

It's 1906 in pre-independence India. Madeline a lively young English girl develops a fascination for her handsome horse groom Azeem. In idyllic Nainital between riding lessons for Madeline through pine forests and English lessons for Azeem under a pear tree an impossible dangerous love breaching the boundaries of race and class starts to blossom.Almost five decades later in New York the publisher Alfred Allye who has lost his wife Rose is nostalgic. He thinks about India; of the inviolate connection he shares with Azeem; about Rose and her deep attachment to Madeline. The recollections refuse to still; they spread outwards and onwards carrying far-reaching ripples. Once upon a Summer the latest novel by one of the most lyrical writers of our times is a multi-generational ode to love. Equally it is a story about the hold of memory; about its capacity to move across time and space and permeate lives.