Neil Beardmore 
Painted Ghosts 

Three women have personal reasons to head from England to modern day India, each on a quest to rebuild their past and family. Daphne celebrates her 60th birthday by revisiting the Buddhist painted caves of Ajanta and to meet Shanta. Her cooperative rehab centre for Devadasi prostitutes is in debt. Can Daphne save it? And has she the strength to face the Painted Ghosts of her past?Stella is on a painting holiday in Goa with her estranged half sister who is just out of rehab. Local art teacher Arun wants to heal the sisters’ rifts by taking them to The Garden of Izzat Baig to celebrate an ancient myth, but will he succeed?Young Ria heads out to join the Indian part of her family in the Himalayan foothills to find her lost brother. The intrusion of a hijra throws the family into confusion. But Ria has to seek the help of the hijra to resolve a family dispute. Will this be enough to satisfy everyone’s demands in a home with A View of Glass Mountains?