The Siege of Krishnapur

First published in 1973, this novel imagines a Company residency in Bengal during the 1857 uprising. The Collector, his household, the Magistrate, the romantic Fleury, soldiers, and civilians endure a long siege: dwindling food, cholera, religious argument, and the collapse of imported certainties as shot hits the compound. Victorian objects and ideas are tested against hunger and fear. The town is invented; the situation follows the historical residencies. The book is a satirical historical novel of imperial crisis, not a memoir of a particular garrison.

Bound in full yellow-brown cloth, blocked with a red and black image by the artist. Red endleaves. Red slipcase.