Why did Kitty Kirkpatrick's English relations end all communication with her Indian family? Born Noor-un-Nissa in 1802 in Hyderabad, Kitty was sent to England at the age of three and never saw or heard from her mother again. And she has never understood why. When she falls in love with the young writer Thomas Carlyle he is determined to find the answer but his attempts to do so help end their romance. Thirty years later Kitty is living in Devon with her husband and children when she receives a letter requesting her to visit 'Mrs Bennett', an old lady who was also born a Muslim in India and whose sister was a close friend of Kitty's mother and with her at her early death. Will Kitty at last discover the truth? 'The Rose Goddess' is based on a true story and is in part a sequel to Maggie Voysey Paun's previous novel 'The Black Princess.'