It is truth universally acknowledged that the past can sometimes produce seemingly bizarre connections.

One is that Jane Austen’s brother Charles, who had a long and distinguished naval career, died in Burma during the second Burmese war and is buried at the esplanade cemetery in Trincomalee.

If we’d known, we’d most certainly have visited.

What it does show is the impact of the rise of the British Empire on the mid nineteenth century British middle class, when it became comparatively normal to have relations who lived overseas.

One sees the same thing in Beth Ellis, who went to visit her relations in Burma for Christmas, and that Burn Murdoch again meets family in India.

Somewhere in this is a story as how horizons narrowed during the nineteen sixties and seventies and that this has resulted in a narrower view of the world …