 It was followed by Persistent Rumours (1992), which won the Writers' Guild Award (Best Fiction) and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Eurasia Region, Best Book), and "A House in Pondicherry" (1995).Her novel, Distant Music (2001), spans six centuries in a narrative that begins on the Portuguese island of Madeira in the 15th century and ends in London in the year 2000.Her novel, A Conversation on the Quai Voltaire (2006), is set in 18th and 19th century Paris, Italy, Russia and Egypt, and recreates the life of Dominique Vivant Denon, one of the most significant figures in French art history.