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Key Features/Quotes The author beautifully recaptures a fairytale world of picturesque beauty, peopled by unique and unforgettable characters About the Book: The Spell of the Flying Foxes It is a commonly held belief in India that flying foxes augur prosperity. They were certainly abundant in the Champaran region of north Bihar. Here in 1845, an Englishman, Alfred Augustus Key Features/Quotes The author beautifully recaptures a fairytale world of picturesque beauty, peopled by unique and unforgettable characters About the Book: The Spell of the Flying Foxes It is a commonly held belief in India that flying foxes augur prosperity. They were certainly abundant in the Champaran region of north Bihar. Here in 1845, an Englishman, Alfred Augustus Tripe, fascinated by the prospect of farming indigo, known as Blue Gold, was drawn to its isolated wilderness. He acquired a large tract of rich, fertile land by the river Baghmati, married an Indian lady of means and reaped prosperity in the days when dust turned to gold. Their children were sent to England for an education, but tragically only one, Joseph Rowland Tripe, lived long enough to marry and produce a daughter, Gladys. The disastrous earthquake that struck Bihar in 1934 annihilated the ancestral home and those members of the family trapped within its walls, sparing only Gladys, who was left helpless with her young children and her powerful, unscrupulous cousin Harry. Taking advantage of this development, Harry attempted to usurp Gladyss entire inheritance, but was foiled by the mysterious intervention of a formidable dacoit leader. Nostalgic, funny and sad, The Spell of the Flying Foxes is the true story of a plantation in north Bihar on Indias border with Nepal. Ambitious and adventurous, Alfred Augustus Tripe, an Englishman, made his way here in 1844 to become an indigo planter. The narrative tracks the life of the members of the Tripe family, the ebb and flow of their fortunes. With the advent of Independence and the ensuing drastic land reforms, the once abundant flying foxes disappear, and with them a golden era. Sylvia Dyer recaptures what now seems a fairytale world of picturesque beauty, peopled by unique and unforgettable characters. Indians believe that flying foxes augur prosperity. They were abundant in Champaran, Bihar, where an Englishman, Alfred Augustus, had set u

Key Features/Quotes The author beautifully recaptures a fairytale world of picturesque beauty, peopled by unique and unforgettable characters About the Book: The Spell of the Flying Foxes It is a commonly held belief in India that flying foxes augur prosperity. They were certainly abundant in the Champaran region of north Bihar. Here in 1845, an Englishman, Alfred Augustus Key Features/Quotes The author beautifully recaptures a fairytale world of picturesque beauty, peopled by unique and unforgettable characters About the Book: The Spell of the Flying Foxes It is a commonly held belief in India that flying foxes augur prosperity. They were...  Read More