Publisher's Synopsis
As the war sweeps to its last bitter stage, the English wives, daughters, mothers and widows of officers gather in Pankot-their old beliefs and assumptions threatened as never before.
Mabel Layton, doyenne of Pankot society, retreats to the tranquility of her rose garden and her inner vision of India -- taking with her Barbie Batchelor as her companion. Both are shaken in their belief in the old order of things, while Captain Merrick vainly struggles to uphold the myth of British invincibility in the face of irreversible change.
