..and I mean specifically day dreaming about a world beyond London and this inconsistent summer weather. Yesterday was grey, rainy and rather miserable. At least today the sun is gracing the capital once again. But I long for some proper, uninterrupted heat. And the ‘Indian summers’ we occasionally get in October don’t quite cut it.  Instead they have me yearning for a real Indian summer and in fact I had my sights set on a trip to Kerala earlier in the year. Those plans didn’t materialise but the temptation remains.

And now with the release of debut The World Beyond, by Sangeeta Bhargava – a tale of two lovers set in Lucknow, India, in the heat of the Sepoy mutiny – I’m tempted even further by this exotic world; its culture, its colours, its history.  Sangeeta grew up in Lucknow, and I am now intrigued by this forgotten city – once, back in 1855, so rich and vibrant and apparently described by many writers as more beautiful than Paris and Constantinople, and so quickly ruined by a three-year mutiny, never to rise from the dust again.

We celebrated the launch of the novel with a booksigning at Sangeeta’s local Waterstone’s in Harrow last weekend. A far cry from that past exotic world, yes, but at least within the pages of the book we can be transported to that time and place, and can still escape into that 1855 Indian heat – of passion and of hate, and of course, of a blazing sun.

(The World Beyond is our August Book Club Choice and is now also available as an e-book)

Chiara Priorelli, Publicity & Online Marketing Manager