Air and Angels
Susan Hill
 The first half of the book comprises two separate narratives in set in Edwardian India and Cambridge. In Cambridge the Revd Thomas Cavendish, a celibate and irreproachable university don in his mid-fities appears destined to become master of the college. He lives with his sister and is a confirmed batchelor, spurning the attentions of his sister's friend Florence who is determined to wed him. His enthusiasm is birds; spending his leisure time either on the Fens birdwatching, or in his indoor aviary. In India, 15-year old Kitty is becoming bored with ex-colonial life, and at the same time repelled by the poverty she sees nearby; and longs to return to the England she left as a young child. Eventually her parents relenting and after a long sea voyage she arrives at her cousin Florence's house in Cambridge. The second half of the book concerns Thomas Cavendish's growing obsession with Kitty after he sees her from his window, as she stands on a bridge over the river. Through his contacts with Florence he becomes her tutor with disastrous results...