An Untimely Frost

Namita who came to Britain from Bengal 40 years ago is horrified when her elder son chooses to marry Ann, an outspoken and contrary college tutor, but happy with her younger son's choice of Jenny, a sweet-natured girl who left school with no qualifications. When they hear the devastating news that their husbands have been killed in a road accident, Namita, Ann and Jenny react in unexpected ways. Ann, the feisty narrator of the tale, faces up to some uncomfortable truths with help from her brother's friend, Colin, who hopes their relationship will develop into something more. Set mainly in a West Midlands city, the novel takes us via a village in the north of England, to a suburb of Kolkata. An Untimely Frost is an engrossing, richly satisfying novel, encompassing love and loss. Whether evoking the inner city or the countryside, Bengal or the UK, romance or bereavement, Alison Mukherjee deftly transports her readers, challenges stereotypes and deepens understanding, as her characters evolve - just as we would expect from the writer of Nirmal Babu's Bride. -Professor Eleanor Nesbitt, University of Warwick