Through the cool, bright air of the Himalayan mountains near Darjeeling, the Old Palace shines. Beginning work on the orchards and opening a school and a dispensary for the mountain people, a small band of nuns are dependent on the English agent, Mr Dean.

Classic tale of nuns grappling with the elements -- and their own elemental natures -- at a remote convent in the Himalayas. The author's first major success, and probably still her best-known book, although its reputation may be due less to its literary merits than to its identification with Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's gorgeous, erotically-charged 1946 film version (which, by the way, is remarkably faithful to the book).