PodcastListen to a podcast of the novel

Podcast 1

Length:    21:04
Contents: Chapter 1, Part 1

In this first podcast, we begin to understand the relationship between the main character, Colin, and Wyndham Charles. The chapter begins like this:

Wyndham's body lay in a crypt beneath the ground floor offices of the police station. It was a pleasant little room, the body notwithstanding. Very earthy, and cool.
     "This is a tykhana," Inspector Prabash told me. He meant the room we were in. "It is built as an escape from the heat. We come down here in summer months during tiffin breaks. Bodies are a rarity. This is Dr. Charles?" he asked.

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Podcast 2

Length:    22:15
Contents: Chapter 1, Part 2

This second podcast closes off the first chapter of the novel. A new character is introduced, Carol Lal, a representative from the British Embassy in Delhi, who has been sent to Mahaban to assist Colin following the death of Wyndham Charles. The section begins like this:

There was a rattle at the door - in fact a knock, but the door was loose on its hinges and shook in the frame. There was something hard and authoritative about the sound, official somehow - a policeman's knock, I thought - and I imagined it was one of Inspector Prabash's men at the door, come to take me back to the station for more questioning. I was uncomfortable with this thought: the minutes of sleep had only made me feel rougher, less focused. I had even less desire for evasion now than when Inspector Prabash had been quizzing me before.
     In fact, it wasn't one of his men at the door. It. was the representative he had sent for from the British Embassy in Delhi. It was Carol Lal.

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Podcast 3

Length:    xx:xx
Contents: Chapter 2, Part 1

The third podcast will appear here shortly. The section begins like this:

It was ironic. For it to have ended like that... Before my arrival in India I had had only one intention regarding Wyndham: that I wouldn't on any account have any dealings with him, wouldn't see him, speak with him, anything. So strong was this desire that it had almost prevented me from taking up my assignment in the country in the first place. I had been offered the posting in Delhi after the previous correspondent had fallen ill - cancer was the preliminary diagnosis - and been flown home to consult specialists, take tests. I was here simply as his replacement, although from the moment I had accepted my editor's offer, there had been doubts. Just too weak. Until too late. As my plane was taxiing on the runway, about to leave Heathrow, I felt a pang of trepidation grab at my heart. I foresaw disaster. I somehow knew my intentions would go awry. I would seek Wyndham out, or he would look for me, we would meet, there would be words, and then... what?