num_pages: 344
description: India, 1857--the year of the Great Mutiny, when Muslim soldiers turned in bloody rebellion on their British overlords. This time of convulsion is the subject of J. G. Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapur, widely considered one of the finest British novels of the last fifty years. Farrell's story is set in an isolated Victorian outpost on the subcontinent. Rumors of strife filter in from afar, and yet the members of the colonial community remain confident of their military and, above all, moral superiority. But when they find themselves under actual siege, the true character of their dominion--at once brutal, blundering, and wistful--is soon revealed. The Siege of Krishnapur is a companion to Troubles, about the Easter 1916 rebellion in Ireland, and The Singapore Grip, which takes place just before World War II, as the sun begins to set upon the British Empire. Together these three novels offer an unequaled picture of the follies of empire.Winner of the Booker Prize.
language: English
title: The Siege of Krishnapur
titlecomplete: The Siege of Krishnapur (Empire Trilogy, #2)
characters: Mr. Hopkins, Dr. Dunstaple, Mr. Rayne, Louise Dunstaple, Lucy Hughes, Miriam Lang, Dr. McNab, Hari, George Fleury, Tom Willoughby, Harry Dunstaple
genres: Classics, British Literature, Historical, India, Novels, War, Historical Fiction, Literature, Literary Fiction, Fiction
ratings_count: 7531
places: India
series: Empire Trilogy
awards: awardedAt: 94723200000
name: Booker Prize, awardedAt: 1199174400000
name: The Best of the Booker
publisher: NYRB Classics