Jack Finch has always regarded himself as the boy from the poorer part of the village, lucky to have been the friend of James Fortune from ‘the big house’ and to have fought alongside him in the Crimea. But when James dies in combat, Jack has to return his effects back to his family: and that’s where he falls in love with James’s former fiancée, Lady Eleanor, and learns a secret that will change his life.
Before he can pursue his heart’s desire, Jack is sent with his regiment, the Rifle Brigade, to India to quell a sepoy munity. Cawnpore and Lucknow have fallen into rebel hands and Jack plays a cat-and-mouse game with the rebel leaders, disguising himself as an Indian and entering enemy territory at great risk to his life. Mutineers are not the only hazard: the intriguing and bejewelled Rani Laksmi Bai and her alluring maidservant represent a very different kind of threat. Will he ever see Eleanor again? In this gripping sequel to The Fortunes at War, Tony Foot vividly captures the sights and sounds of nineteenth-century India and the fighting life of a member of the Rifle Brigade.
