Where The Serpent Lives

Ruth Padel

Ruth Padel's debut novel is the story of Rosamund a woman in her forties who is forced to realise that her marriage - indeed her whole life - is a sham. Her husband is serially unfaithful and her teenage son is a lost soul who has no respect for his father and spends his days smoking dope. Rosamund's best friend Irena suggests that she spends some time in India to sort out her life. Rosamund was brought up in India by her biologist father so it has a strong attraction for her. And by chance Irena's husband Alan (who is a specialist in snakes) is already based there doing research.
Rosamund takes Irena's advice and goes out to India where she encounters the beauty of the wildlife but also witnesses its devastation through poaching pollution and corruption. She also finds to her consternation that she is falling in love with Alan...>