Brief

19th Century Calcutta, the decadent, bleached capital built to house the bureaucracy of one of the most powerful and complex Empires in world history, makes strange bedfellows of the glamorous and dangerous, as represented by the elite, unconventional Moran family, their colourful acquaintances, and their by-blows. One must be mad to like Calcutta. Delia Moran liked Calcutta very much.

What We Liked

- This was written with the style and grace of a classic novel--reading it feels like unearthing an ancient treasure. The world is complicated and far different from our own, but there is a familiarity in the wildness of the characters and their actions.
- As a film, this would be an epic period piece, a comedy with no shortage of high stakes and gruesome ends.
- As a television show, this could be an interesting mini series set in the time of the British Raj.
- Key points: Period piece; Female protagonist; Sexy; Unique setting; Funny.

Synopsis

Delia goes to Calcutta. Almost dies, collapsed lung. Marries James. James dies. Adopts Ally, raises him and Mongoose. Sends mongoose off to Eton. Her mother has an opium addiction, she has to go to the russian for it. the russian nearly rapes Delia. she pretends her mother dies, sends her to sea, where she does die. gets "kidnapped" by the russian, marries ambrose, cheats on him a bunch with the russian. her father is found dead and headless. mongoose returns. she dies. everyone dies.

Mary Cordelia Moran, or "Delia" as she insists exclusively on being called, is the only legitimate heir to the Moran family, one of the richest British families during the time of the Raj in India at the turn of the 19th century. Delia is eccentric to an extreme and often causes disagreements with those around her. Her closest friend is her maid, Beryl, who goes by "Devi" as a nod to her deviousness--Devi hates everyone except Delia and rarely leaves her side. Delia is sent to Calcutta as a sixteen year old girl and is chaperoned by Dr. Charron, a police medical examiner, who she quickly forms a close bond with. Calcutta during this time is a mad place with brutal heatwaves and grotesque wealth disparity. Most hate it, but Delia loves Calcutta. As she grows up, she read medicine and initially begins studies in it, but soon gives up. In her twenties, she falls ill and goes to stay at a sick house to recover. While there, the doctors collapse one of her lungs and she accepts an imminent death, but instead, she survives. Her roommate at the recovery ward is a Mrs. James; a rich old woman whose husband, Mr. James, visits her constantly. After Mrs. James' death, Mr. James invites Delia and her maid to move in with him. The two are friends only for a while, but soon, Mr. James and Delia get married.

Delia finds herself constantly at odds with the son of Mr. James and the late Mrs. James, Allistair, or "Ally" as he likes to be called. Ally is a brat and resents Delia, even moreso after Mr. James dies and Delia adopts him. Delia raises Ally alongside Richard, "the Mongoose." Richard is around a decade younger than Delia and has been accepted into the Moran clan as a family member, the son of Devi's deceased older sister, Ruby, and an unknown father. However, the Mongoose looks too similar to Delia's father to go unnoticed, especially as he matures. Delia and the Mongoose form a tight bond that verges on a problematic level of flirtation, so against his wishes, Delia sends him off to Eton and pays for his tuition. Delia is exceedingly generous with her wealth and constantly helps out those who she sees need it.

Delia's mother moves in with the family and has a severe opium addiction. The only person in the area who is able to provide the opium is a Russian man named Oleksander Shevchenko. Shevchenko is someone who became obsessed with Delia's father, Colonel Moran, and became convinced that he was an illegitimate heir to the Moran fortune, and was easily able to convince the Colonel of that as well, to the extent that they were happy to provide him with money for silence. Shevchenko sees Delia as his main rival for the fortune and plays cruel games with her, leaving her waiting alone in the alleys of Calcutta or on wild goose chases looking for him in order to get her mother's opium. Delia begins to carry a gun with her to their meetings, but never uses it, even when Shevchenko forces himself upon her. Delia tells everyone her mother has died but secretly sends her on a ship to California. Her mother dies during the voyage.

Delia goes to a party with Charron, has a huge drunken blowout, and afterwards "is kidnapped." It turns out she had staged the whole thing and it was all an act. She meets up with Shevchenko during this time and has a love affair with him for a few days and asks him to marry her to which he accepts. A few days later, Charron confronts his friend, Ambrose, who reveals that he married Delia before she met up with Shevchenko. Ambrose reveals that the whole plot was a farce by Delia to get her deemed mentally unfit and confined to Ambrose's care. Ambrose and she are married for around four years, during which she continually cheats on him with the Russian. She develops a severe opium addiction. The Mongoose comes back from school to visit her and be with her, but she tries to send him away again. Her father is found headless. Delia dies, and everyone else dies soon after, but the Mongoose and Ally both live into their old age and become well known around the world for their exploits.

About The Author

Born in New York City, raised in London and Calcutta, Demarest Campbell spent her youth devouring books on history, absorbing the Classics, and listening to first-hand tales of the Raj from antique relatives. Each side of her family had a four century history in East India as tea planters, in shipping, and in the military. Campbell served for thirty-five years as the Charge Scenic Artist of the Tony Award-winning American Conservatory Theater and an additional six years as a scenic artist of the San Francisco Opera.