The Sabre's Edge - A Novel

Allan Mallinson

Summary

A nineteenth-century British cavalry captain and his Dragoons must take an impregnable Indian fortress in this adventure by the author of A Call to Arms.

1824. The Sixth Light Dragoons are still stationed in India and the talk in the officer’s mess is of war. The Burmese are encroaching on Company land and skirmishes are common on India’s borders. Meanwhile, across the country in Bhurtpoor the succession to the Raj has been usurped. The rightful claimant Balwant Sing has been forced from the throne by the war-mongering Durjan Sal. The conflict looks set to flare up into bloody conflict, taking the surrounding provinces with it. With the threat of war on two fronts the British troops must intercede.

The trial ahead will test Hervey and his newly blooded troop to their very limits, for Durjan Sal has taken refuge in the infamous Bhurtpoor—a fortress surrounded by a deep moat almost five miles in perimeter, with thirty-five turreted bastions and the Tower of Victory built with the skulls of Lord Lakes’ defeated men. Hervey can be sure of one thing: the siege of Bhurtpoor will be hot and bloody work. Once again, the fortunes of Matthew Hervey and his courageous troop will be decided by the sabre’s edge.

Praise for The Sabre’s Edge

“Hervey returns in a thrilling new adventure set in colonial India. . . . Mallinson, himself a cavalry officer, has an almost innate ability to bring both military maneuvers and battle scenes to life. This authentically rousing martial epic evokes all the sweat, gore, and glory of the British Raj.” —Booklist

Available since: 06/03/2004.

Print length: 320 pages.

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