The mountain of light - Claire Allen

Sarah, just out of university, moves to London to begin a new life for herself. Her first step is to take a flat above The Mountain of Light, the Indian restaurant that is the pride and joy of the avuncular but solitary Balu. Sarah is quickly absorbed into the warm and familiar world of the restaurant, and forms a relationship with Hari, one of the waiters, though this ends when she falls for Jude. Jude, however, seems suspicious of Sarah's relationship with Hari, a jealous tendency which intensifies as Sarah begins spending more and more time with Josef, the elderly Polish neighbour she has befriended. Josef is gradually piecing together for Sarah the heartbreaking story of his youth - how he loved and lost a dancer in the Polish National Ballet. Josef dies, Jude leaves her, and she takes refuge in Josef's Polish hometown. Here she is consoled by Josef's great-nephew and the discovery of a trunk filled with memorabilia, until she is ready to return to the people she realises miss her most - Balu and Hari - and the flat above the restaurant that has finally become a home.