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The City of Palaces is a novel by Sujata Massey set in Bengal in the 1930s. Summary of the Book In 1930, Pom’s life is devastated when her family is wiped out in a horrible flood. She joins a British Boarding School as a maidservant, and makes a pleasant discover: she is good with languages. However, her newfound happiness is short lived, for tragedy strikes and she must leave her new home and go into hiding. She goes to Calcutta, where she hopes to find safety in the large city. However, Calcutta is quivering under the pressure of the Independence Movement, and she is swept in. She finds a new life, a love and some happiness that she manages to hold on to. However, the past isn’t easily avoided, and Pom’s past comes looking for her. About Sujata Massey Sujata Massey is a British writer who has also written The Samurai's Daughter, The Bride's Kimono, Shimura Trouble and The Salaryman's Wife. Sujata graduated from Johns Hopkins University and was awarded the Agatha and Macavity awards for The Salaryman’s Wife. The book was also nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Mary Higgins Clark awards.