'Gwen Bitti born with a facial caul, in Calcutta, India, migrates to Australia with her family when she is sixteen. She returns to her birth land for a visit some years later. On her arrival she is jolted into a new perspective and with fresh insight, sets off on a quest. The motif of her enigmatic caul is woven throughout her memoir as she draws together the threads of stories of her family and childhood to discover the truth.
''In the author's sharp observations and evocative authentic recreation of people and places immerses the reader in the story and gives an added dimension to this page-turner. Moments of violence, insurgency, fear, lies, secrecy and escape are palpable alongside the comfortable lifestyle, and the privilege and status of this Anglo-Indian family.' - Dr Sharon Rundle, writer and editor
''From the opening paragraph of this memoir, I was hooked.' - Emerita Professor Di Yerbury, AO. Chair, International Judging Panel, Commonwealth Writers' Prize 1989 and 1990
''Poignant and beautifully articulated - the struggle within the human soul as it searches for that most important of things - identity.' - Nick Bleszynski, author/screenwriter, and director
''Gwen...bringing India vividly alive for the reader.' - Emerita Professor Elizabeth Webby' (Publication summary)
