The Siege Of Krishnapur
J. G. Farrell
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Recommended by John
‘J.G. Farrell’s masterpiece, the second in his loose trilogy about the decline of the British Empire, tells the story of the British community of the small town of Krishnapur under siege in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and their eventual collapse and retreat. Harrowing in places, it is also extremely funny, and nobody who has encountered his cast of brilliantly-drawn characters is likely to forget them.’
From the publisher
WINNER OF THE 1973 BOOKER PRIZE
'We look on past ages with condescension, as a mere preparation for us... but what if we are a mere after-glow of them?'
Krishnapur, 1857: India is on the brink of a violent and bloody mutiny. In this remote town on the vast North Indian plain, life for the British is still orderly and genteel. But when the sepoys at the nearest military cantonment rise in revolt, the British community retreats with shock into the Residency. They prepare to fight for their lives with what weapons they can muster.
As food and ammunition grow short when the British find themselves under actual siege, the true character of their dominion - at once brutal, blundering and wistful - is soon revealed.
'An idiosyncratic masterpiece, wise and richly comic' Hilary Mantel