At once a contemporary reflection on Indiaâs rich history and a biographical retelling of Forsterâs travels through the country in the early 1900s, Developing the Heart delves into the past to better understand the profound impact certain events and people had on his writing. In doing so, it allows readers to look on as Forster matures and softens over time in his behaviour with others as well as with himself. Often using Forsterâs own words to evoke a vivid landscape, this is the story of the most dramatic and exotic part of the life of one of Englandâs greatest novelists.
Nigel Collett, a retired lieutenant-colonel of the British Brigade of Gurkhas now a biographer based in Hong Kong, is the author of The Butcher of Amritsar: General Reginald Dyer (2006), Firelight of a Different Colour: The Life and Times of Leslie Cheung (2014), and A Death in Hong Kong: The MacLennan Case of 1980 and the Suppression of a Scandal (2018, second edition 2020).