FISH, BLOOD AND BONE By Leslie Forbes, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, £ 12.99 In recent years, a number of books based on the colonial experiences of our erstwhile rulers have appeared. In these we find nostalgia, sympathy and sometimes a mixture of both. One cannot but detect an undercurrent of sadness at the loss of the 'jewel in the Crown' in them. Fish, Blood and Bone, however, has a refreshingly new approach, which is evident from the setting of the novel in 19th century India, in present-day West Bengal and in Tibet. The book describes a quest which is as much a search for the roots of three extraordinary families as the attempt to re-discover the green poppy, which may or may not exist. In the end, the central character, forensic photographer, Claire Fleetwood, finds a peace which she never had as a child or as an adult. When Fleetwood inherits some property alongwith some interesting tenants, little does she realize that it would reveal her past, her descent from a line with a history, most of which is deliberately kept in the dark. The way Claire goes about delving into that history is bound to fascinate the reader. And those in India who are drawn to the Ripper murders and fascinated by the question mark which still hangs over his identity, will be delighted at the picture of Jack the Ripper which emerges from the novel. The build-up to the expose has been cunningly crafted and is entirely believable insofar as the context is concerned. Two other aspects of the novel which stand out are gardens and scientific research. The sheer vitality of the descriptions show the lengths to which Leslie Forbes has gone to make her tale plausible. Her own garden is described vividly: 'Swimming through the wet leaves, I followed Sally's mossy shadow along a path crowded by bamboo stems as thick as men's arms...There were heavy sweet smells unnatural for October, ferns like ostrich plumes, ferns with fronds split on the ends and frizzed like old ladies' perms, ferns the size of my palm, each stalk ruffled and plaint as sequinned elastic.' Forbes's Bengali readers will be happy with her descriptions of Calcutta and its Botanical Gardens: 'Logically, the so-called 'Great' Banyan Tree at the Botanical Gardens should have lost its magic. At 240 years of age it was no longer the dense half-acre forest described in my old guidebooks.... Its heart was gone, the main trunk from which the 1,800 or so remaining aerial roots grew, rotted through and removed in 1925.......But the magic was still here.' The actual expedition winds its way through Sikkim into Tibet and after an arduous self-exploitative journey into Arunachal Pradesh, Fleetwood finds her way to Darjeeling. By that time the finding of the green poppy is secondary to her. Of primary importance is the unravelling of her mysterious family background. It is with this knowledge that she returns to England, curious no more. Fish, Blood and Bone is basically a tale of adventure with a high degree of realism. The reader almost ends up believing that a green poppy actually exists and that it has miraculous properties. But there are facts as well - there are many families in England with an Indian past, with the present generation making attempts to dig deeper into their Indian roots. Not so long ago, a British minister paid a visit to Shillong to meet the Indian side of his ancestors. Forbes is familiar with India, helping her present a balanced picture of the country and this will appeal to her Indian readers. Apart from this, there is a wealth of information about old Bengal, gardens and gardening. But it would have been a better idea had family trees been provided so as to explain the intertwining and maps to show the expeditions. After all, not all her readers would be Indians or have a strong command over geography.