Breakfast with the Nikolides

Book excerpt: A troubled European family struggles to make a life in India during WWII in this “absorbing” novel from a New York Times–bestselling author (Kirkus Reviews). Eight years ago, Louise Pool left her husband, Charles, in India, fleeing a marriage marked by anger, disillusion, and mistrust. Now, with Europe engulfed in the flames of World War II and Germany’s Nazi juggernaut rolling through occupied France, Louise is reluctantly returning to East Bengal, where Charles runs a government farm that hosts an Indian agricultural school. Back to this oppressive land she brings with her their two young daughters, who barely remember their father. For plain, awkward, eleven-year-old Emily, the “homecoming” offers both an exciting change from cosmopolitan Paris and a harsh immersion into the adult world. Intrigued by the sights, sounds, and smells of her exotic new home, she’s left free to explore—and enjoy the hospitality and kindness of their glamorous neighbors, the Nikolides. Emily’s already contentious relationship with her mother is only worsened, however, by Louise’s intense hatred of rural India and its people and her continued unhappiness with the marriage she insists is temporary. The faults and foibles of both parents and the irreparable cracks in their union become all too apparent from a daughter’s close-up perspective. But it is an extreme act of thoughtless cruelty that will ultimately shatter the tenuous bonds of family, violently disrupting the lives of the Pools and the community at large. Fans of the Masterpiece show Indian Summers will enjoy this poignant novel of betrayal, lost innocence, and fragile family ties, which represents the bestselling author of In This House of Brede and Kingfishers Catch Fire at her best. This ebook features an illustrated biography of the author including rare images from the Rumer Godden Literary Estate.