Alys Conran: Dignity

Magda is a former scientist with a bad temper and a sharp tongue, living alone in a huge house by the sea and getting through carers at a rate of knots. Until Susheela arrives, carrying life with her: grief for her mother's recent death; worry for her father; longing for a beautiful and troubled young man. The two women strike up an unlikely friendship: Magda's no-nonsense attitude turns out to be an unexpected source of strength for Susheela; and Susheela's Bengali heritage brings back memories of Magda's childhood in colonial India and resurrects the tragic figure of her mother, Evelyn. But as Magda digs deeper into her past, she unlocks a shocking legacy of blood that threatens to destroy the careful order she has imposed on her life - a legacy that might just be the key to give the three women, Evelyn, Magda and Susheela, a place they can finally call home.