Commentary: Cholera in Krishnapur
Journal: International Journal of Epidemiology
Year: 2013

Some years ago, when I was writing my doctoral thesis on medicine in British India, my supervisor directed me towards J.G. Farrell’s remarkable novel about the Mutiny of 1857—The Siege of Krishnapur. I was glad that she did, for the book not only provides a compelling narrative of these tumultuous events but also offers deep insights into the murky waters of Victorian medical theory. Farrell succeeds brilliantly in bringing to life the panic induced by that great scourge of the British in India—