COROMANDEL SEA CHANGE by Rumer Godden...

COROMANDEL SEA CHANGE by Rumer Godden (Quill: $9.; 263 pp.). The real focus of Godden’s sensual novel is Patna Hall, a cozy hotel on the southwest coast of India that preserves the best traditions of the British Raj. The complicated plot, which involves the hotel staff and guests, as well as the participants in a local election, owes a good deal to E.M. Forester. But Godden, who spent most of her life in India, captures the special allure of the Coromandel region, where dirt and poverty meet a noble beauty.