Peg Kingman's novel is mysterious, intriguing and just downright absorbing historical fiction. This is the kind of story I truly love. It is smart and full of atmosphere with strong, interesting characters leading fascinating lives. There is such a marvelous sense of place and time journeying from Scotland to India with many cultural tidbits to ponder. The fact that the tale involves Scottish music, tea and an ocean voyage in the 19th century makes it irresistible!

"Mysterious, intriguing, and just downright absorbing...smart and full of atmosphere."—Boston Globe

Catherine MacDonald is astonished to receive from her twin brother—who had apparently drowned a year earlier in the monsoon floods of 1821—a kashmiri shawl, a caddy of unusual tea, and a sheaf of traditional bagpipe music in his handwriting. When had he sent it? And why had he retitled a certain tune "Not Yet Drown'd"? Irresistibly, she is drawn to India to search for answers. With her stepdaughter and their two maids—one an enigmatic Hindu, the other a runaway American slave—she follows an obscure trail of tea, opium, and bagpipe music, discovering unsuspected truths about the man she is seeking. Reading group guide included.

Peg Kingman, formerly a tea merchant and a technical writer, lives in northern California.

Publisher: W. W. Norton
Distributor: W. W. Norton
Publication Date: 09-02-2008
Pages: 384
Measurements: 8in X 6in