This selection of twenty-one stories of the Raj, written as fiction but all based on fact, shows a hitherto unknown side of the Empire. The British came to India in search of wealth and power. But it was a man’s world and women, especially English women, were few. An English bride for long remained an expensive proposition, costing a small fortune to bring to Calcutta, and was quite out of the reach of young career-minded officers and civil servants. Driven by loneliness, lust or just plain longing, many looked for companionship among Indian women, or where the more rakish among them were concerned, the bored wives of fellow officers. But love in a hot climate could prove a fiery affair. One man, reduced to cringing submission by his native housekeeper-mistress, fled across the country to board ship for home, pursued all the way in a palanquin by the furious maid.
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