A Far Horizon

Summary

Calcutta, 1756. In Indian Black Town, the luminously beautiful Sati is believed to be possessed by the goddess Kali, and finds herself at the centre of a religious cult. In British White Town, Chief Magistrate Holwell and Governor Drake come together to face a common enemy - Siraj Uddaulah, the volatile young nawab in Murshidabad. When the nawab finally descends upon Calcutta with a huge army, it's too late for those British residents who have not fled the city in time. Locked into Fort William with a large number of the Black Town population, these British prisoners spend a night of horror that would become legend of the history of the Raj. Lushly written and richly evocative, A Far Horizon is a sweeping chronicle of the notorious incident of the Black Hole of Calcutta that would later be used to justify the British empire's colonisation of India.