For its British population the India that swelters in the late spring of 1857is a place of amateur theatricals horseracing and flirtations under the aegisof the... » 

For its British population the India that swelters in the late spring of 1857is a place of amateur theatricals horseracing and flirtations under the aegisof the omnipotent East India company. But a brutal awakening lies in store forthe complacent Britishone May night after 30 years of abuse the East IndiaCompanys native soldiers rise up against their British officers. Caught up inthe violence is pretty Sophie Hardcastle a young wife and mother newly arrivedfrom England. As she searches for her infant son missing in the chaos Sophiefinds herself bearing witness to atrocities on both sides. Moving somber andthrilling Rathbones tale is told on a grand scale ranging from the Canningsin Government House to the heroism of the humblest soldiers and peasants. It isas exhilarating as any Victorian adventure story and yet its unflinchingexamination of religious fantacism and the horrors of war also carries apowerful message for the modern world. «