Invisible Threads, a tense account of a grieving woman uncovering the truth about her late husband, is Lucy Beresford’s second novel. This is well-trodden ground and Beresford bravely acknowledges the clichés with a witty and painfully self-aware heroine.

Sara, a therapist, could so easily be a typical do-gooder with unrealistic ideas of India, where she goes to work in a clinic. Instead, Beresford steadily builds her up as a sharp, pragmatic woman fully aware of her own idealism. Nor does Beresford use India and its inhabitants as a