The Siege Of Krishnapur

WINNER OF THE 1973 BOOKER PRIZE

'We look on past ages with condescension, as a mere preparation for us... but what if we are a mere after-glow of them?'

Krishnapur, 1857: India is on the brink of a violent and bloody mutiny. In this remote town on the vast North Indian plain, life for the British is still orderly and genteel. But when the sepoys at the nearest military cantonment rise in revolt, the British community retreats with shock into the Residency. They prepare to fight for their lives with what weapons they can muster.

As food and ammunition grow short when the British find themselves under actual siege, the true character of their dominion - at once brutal, blundering and wistful - is soon revealed.

'An idiosyncratic masterpiece, wise and richly comic' Hilary Mantel

“While I can't categorically state it's the best book ever, I find it hard to think of one that I prefer. One that does more as a work of fiction, or that says more about our flawed humanity . . . The Siege of Krishnapur is a superb portrayal of physical horrors and psychological fallout . . . [It] is wonderfully funny, written with devastating wit and rambunctious humanity. I can't praise it enough - and I can't push it enough”

Inspired, funny but ultimately tragic look at colonialism in India. It has an unusual exuberence - Mariella Frostrup

For a novel to be witty is one thing, to tell a good story is another, to be serious is yet another, but to be all three is surely enough to make it a masterpiece - NEW STATESMAN

His brilliance of style places him beside such masters of the modern novel as Patrick White and Saul Bellow - Olivia Manning

A novel of quite outstanding quality - THE TIMES'

J.G. Farrell was born in Liverpool in 1935 and spent a good deal of his life abroad, including periods in France and North America, and then settled in London where he wrote most of his novels.

Among his novels, TROUBLES won the Faber Memorial Prize in 1970 and the Lost Man Booker prize in 2010 and THE SIEGE OF KRISHNAPUR won the Booker Prize in 1973.

In April 1979 he went to live in County Cork where only four months later he was drowned in a fishing accident.

WINNER OF THE 1973 BOOKER PRIZE 'We look on past ages with condescension, as a mere preparation for us... but what if we are a mere after-glow of them?' Krishnapur, 1857: India is on the brink of a violent and bloody mutiny. In this remote town on the vast North Indian plain, life for the British is still orderly and genteel. But when the sepoys at the nearest military cantonment rise in revolt, the British community retreats with shock into the Residency. They prepare to fight for their lives with what weapons they can muster.As food and ammunition grow short when the British find themselves under actual siege, the true character of their dominion - at once brutal, blundering and wistful - is soon revealed. 'An idiosyncratic masterpiece, wise and richly comic' Hilary Mantel

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