The pavilion in the clouds A knopf canada e-original

Summary: A beautiful and atmospheric stand-alone novel filled with intrigue, a child's misunderstandings and their resolution years later, from the beloved and bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith. IN E-ORIGINAL ONLY! It is 1938 in the final days of the British Empire. In a house high up in the green hills above the plains of Ceylon, under a vast blue sky, live the Ferguson family: Bella, a precocious eight-year-old, her father, Henry—owner of Pitlochry, a tea estate—and her mother, Virginia. The story centres around a gazebo they fondly call the Pavilion in the Clouds, suspended on the edge of their idyllic gardens as if floating above the lush valley below. But all is not as serene as it seems. Bella is suspicious of her governess Miss White’s intentions. Her quick, but still childish intuition sparks off her mother’s imagination, and, after an unfortunate series of events, a confrontation results in a gunshot ringing out through the valley, and life-altering repercussions.         Years later, Bella, now living back in Scotland at university in St. Andrews, is faced with her past. Will she at last find out what happened between her father and Miss White? And will the guilt she has lived with all these years be reconciled by a long-overdue apology?          A page-turning, suspenseful story exploring themes of the inheritance of colonial history and its impact upon families, especially the women and children, The Pavilion in the Clouds shows it's never too late to revisit the past in order to better understand our present view.