DEEPER THAN INDIGO; TRACING THOMAS MACHELL, FORGOTTEN EXPLORER

In this illustrated talk, writer, artist, traveller and indigo expert Jenny Balfour-Paul relates how serendipity led her to the Journals of Thomas Machell, a spirited outsider in the Raj, and how she discovered echoes of her own life.

Her quest includes adventures in China, where Machell witnessed the ‘Opium War’, and on India’s former indigo and coffee plantation lands. She follows Machell by cargo ship to remote Polynesian islands, where he fell for a Chief’s daughter, and by container ship to India, facing pirate threats as he did on board Arab merchant dhows. The most extraordinary coincidence occurs when Balfour-Paul seeks to uncover the mystery of Machell’s missing final years.

A N Wilson described her highly acclaimed book as: ‘One of the most remarkable books I have ever read…A deeply moving, totally enchanting account of a great metaphysical mystery’. www.deeperthanindigo.com