Introduction

Only in retrospect did Felicity realize that walking along mud banks that separated paddy fields in rural India and sitting at the local well for hours on end observing the villagers - who were also observing her - was somewhat incongruous for a European child with light coloured eyes. Likewise, being placed in an orphanage at the age of one when her mother died.

Felicity's Journey

Felicity had an unusual way out from her deprivation at the age of twelve when she joined the Deccan Queen railway journey at an elite girls' boarding school run by nuns from Oxford, England graduating with a Cambridge High School Certificate at the age of eighteen. This story traces the stepping stones from the foundling home in Bombay to Felicity stepping off a P&O ship in Sydney, Australia.

Historical Context

The timeframe of the story is in the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's, a time of great change as India transitioned from a British colony to an independent nation.