For its British population, the India that swelters in the late spring of 1857 is a place of amateur theatricals, horseracing, and flirtations under the aegis of the omnipotent East India company. But a brutal awakening lies in store for the complacent British--one May night, after 30 years of abuse, the East India Company's native soldiers rise up against their British officers. Caught up in the violence is pretty Sophie Hardcastle, a young wife and mother newly arrived from England. As she searches for her infant son missing in the chaos, Sophie finds herself bearing witness to atrocities on both sides. Moving, somber, and thrilling, Rathbone's tale is told on a grand scale, ranging from the Cannings in Government House to the heroism of the humblest soldiers and peasants. It is as exhilarating as any Victorian adventure story, and yet its unflinching examination of religious fantacism and the horrors of war also carries a powerful message for the modern world.