Indian Trilogy
2 total works 3 total works planned
First published in 1951, The Nightrunners of Bengal is one of John Masters' series of seven novels which followed several generations of the Savage family serving in the British Army in India.
Nightrunners of Bengal focuses on the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The central character, Captain Rodney Savage, is an officer in a Bengal Native Infantry regiment, based in the fictional city of Bhowani. When rebellion breaks out, the British community in Bengal is shattered. Savage's empathy for the Indians is shaken, as the British try to discover who is loyal to them and who is not.
One of the great novels of India, Nightrunners of Bengal combines John Master's mastery of story-telling with an intuitive sense of history. This was the first novel that Masters wrote in the series, though not the first novel chronologically, and alongside Bhowani Junction is one of his best-known works.
Nightrunners of Bengal focuses on the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The central character, Captain Rodney Savage, is an officer in a Bengal Native Infantry regiment, based in the fictional city of Bhowani. When rebellion breaks out, the British community in Bengal is shattered. Savage's empathy for the Indians is shaken, as the British try to discover who is loyal to them and who is not.
One of the great novels of India, Nightrunners of Bengal combines John Master's mastery of story-telling with an intuitive sense of history. This was the first novel that Masters wrote in the series, though not the first novel chronologically, and alongside Bhowani Junction is one of his best-known works.
In 1825 William Savage is an official in the East India Company, committed to the people of his remote district and British rule in India. During the course of his duties he witnesses a double murder and stumbles upon the society of the thuggee, a secret cult that has flourished in India for 200 years and murdered over a million people. When Savage discovers a mass grave, including the body of a recently killed British officer, his investigation leads him to infiltrate, while disguised, the cult. He learns their secrets but finds himself drawn to the ecstasy of ritual killing. Can his sense of honour prevail, can he destroy the thuggees?