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The India House
The India House
Nov 24, 2025 9:23 AM

Author:William Palmer

The India House

The locals call it 'The India House'. But they have little to do with the three women who live there: grandmother, mother and daughter.

Old Mrs Covington dreams of India and the days of the Raj. Her daughter Evelyn watches obsessively over eighteen-year-old Julia. Julia's tutor, Mr Henry, has been instructed to keep her in a state of 'innocence'. Every day he censors the newspaper and reports a sanitised version to the family.

But it is 1956 and Britain is changing. Mrs Covington may shut out the modern world, but she cannot prevent the arrival of her son Roland, and her handsome grandson, James. The fragile paradise the women have constructed is about to be changed forever.

Reviews

A blackly, bleakly comic novel... An enjoyable, original fable

—— Sunday Telegraph

Casual-seeming but frighteningly perceptive. Palmer is a master of sly, deadpan narration. Not a word or detail seems misplaced

—— Times Literary Supplement

Wry and vivid, this novel is a little gem

—— Good Book Guide

Caustically comic

—— Daily Mail

An absorbing symphonic novel. A delightful, enjoyable tale. William Palmer is a master craftsman

—— Literary Review

Stylishly written and bitingly funny

—— Tablet

Dazzling

—— Spectator

Beautifully written... darkly comic

—— David Lodge
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