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. It is an enigma wrapped in decay and a good place to go insane unnoticed. Delia Moran liked Calcutta very much.