28 March, 2015
Genre: History
Category: New Books
A sweeping history of the British in India, seen through the experiences of a single Scottish family, the author's own. Tears of the Rajas brings to life not only the most dramatic incidents of their careers - the massacre at Vellore, the conquest of Java, the deposition of the boy-king of Oudh, the disasters in Afghanistan, the Reliefs of Lucknow and Chitral - but also their personal ordeals: the bankruptcies in Scotland and Calcutta, the plagues and fevers, the deaths of children and deaths in childbirth. Another well-written and well-received piece of writing from Ferdinand Mount that will delight those who enjoy reading about the subcontinent and the Empire more widely.