Virago have released a new hardback edition of Black Narcissus to accompany the upcoming BBC adaptation, due in December 2020. Part of Virago’s Designer Collection, the latest reprint has an introduction by the mini-series writer, Amanda Coe, and a cover taken from a Gujarati silk embroidery from the collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
‘A remarkable novel. One in a thousand’ – Observer
High in the Himalayas, the mountaintop palace shines like a jewel. Built for the General’s harem, laughter and music once floated out over the gorge. Now it sits abandoned, windswept and haunting.
The palace is bestowed to the Sisters of Mary, and what was once known as ‘the House of Women’ becomes the Convent of St Faith. Close to the heavens, the nuns feel inspired, working fervently to establish their school and hospital. But as the isolation and emptiness of the mountain become increasingly unsettling, passions long repressed emerge with tragic consequences . . .
‘Godden’s wonderful book sets out a complex vision of the variety, necessity and danger of desire, rendered into a story that is completely pleasurable. I envy anyone reading it for the first time’ – Amanda Coe