The Kashmir Shawl - Rosie Thomas

Newlywed Nerys Watkins leaves rural Wales to accompany her husband on a missionary posting to India. High up in the heart of Kashmir she discovers the lakeside city of Srinagar, where the British live on carved wooden houseboats and dance, flirt and gossip as if there is no war.

But life becomes less frivolous when the men are sent away to fight. Nerys is caught up in a dangerous friendship, and by the time she is reunited with her husband the innocent Welsh bride has become a different woman.

Years later, when Mair Ellis clears out her father’s house, she finds an exquisite antique shawl and a lock of a child’s hair. Tracing her grandparents back to Kashmir, Mair embarks on a quest that will change her life for ever.