The Hill of Devi

The novelist E M Forster opens the door on life in a remote Maharajah's court in the early twentieth century. Through letters from his time working there as the Maharajah's private secretary, he introduces us to a fourteenth-century political system where the young Maharajah of Devas, 'certainly a genius and possibly a saint', led a state centred on spiritual aspirations. A loving and affectionate portrait of a forgotten world, The Hill of Devi chronicles Forster's infatuation and exasperation, fascination and amusement at this idiosyncratic court. He leads us with him to its heart and the eight-day festival of Gokul Ashtami, marking the birth of Krishna, where we see His Highness Maharajah Sir Tukoji Rao III dancing before the altar 'like David before the Ark'.

E. M. Forster (1879-1970) was famed for his novels A Room with a View, Howards End and A Passage to India. Although he lived until he was 91, he wrote all his six novels before the age of 45. He was educated at King's College, Cambridge, where he took part in the learned philosophical discussions of the Apostles (a student discussion group) many of whose members went on to be part of the Bloomsbury Group, as did Forster. Edward Morgan Forster was born in London, the son of an architect who died when his son was only a year old. He continued to live with his mother until she died in 1945. Although he was never open about his homosexuality in public, in death Forster's ashes were mingled with those of one of his long-time lovers.