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Literary Review
HISTORICAL FICTION
Sweeping view of history
R. KRITHIKA
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Set amid the drama of 1857, Julian Rathbone’s novel is a gripping read.
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The Mutiny: A Novel; Julian Rathbone, Little Brown, Rs. 695.
Released in the 150th anniversary of the 1857 Uprising, Julian Rathbone’s The Mutiny: A Novel carries a quote from Queen Victoria that has tremendous relevance in a world that is dealing with various forms of religious fundam
entalism.
Writing to her friend Charlotte Canning, wife of the governor-general of India in 1857, the queen writes: “I think that the greatest care ought to be taken not to interfere with their religion as once a cry of that kind is raised among a fanatical people — very strictly attached to their religion — there is no knowing what it may lead to and where it may end.”
The Mutiny begins with the complacent British in India — their lives ruled by drama and sport — totally unaware of the violence they will shortly be plunged into. Sophie Hardcastle, a young army wife, is disenchanted with her soldier-husband and is leaning towards an affair with the mysterious Lieutenant Bruce Farquhar.
Personal tragedy
But once the Indian soldiers rise up against their British masters, Sophie has to deal with a more personal tragedy: her son goes missing. Stephen is part of a band of English children wandering through the battlefields of North India in the care of his Indian nurse, Lavanya. Sophie and her friend Catherine Dixon, whose son is with Stephen, set out in search of their children.
Following Sophie in her search, the reader is given a sweeping view of the historical events: the soldiers’ discontent, British attitudes to natives, the brutality on both sides, the motives of the leaders on the revolt… While Rathbone is impartial in his treatment of the brutality of both British and Indian soldiers (as he points out, “Both sides in the Mutiny behaved appallingly”); he draws quite a sympathetic portrait of the Indian mutineers.
Rude attitude
When asked why the Indians hate the English, Catherine tells her son that “we’ve taken more than we should” and also been “quite rude”. This is best exemplified by the attitude of Mrs. Fetherstonhaugh when Stephen is briefly restored to British hands. Unconcerned that Lavanya has struggled to restore the children, she dismisses her curtly, “No need for you to come. You have caused enough trouble already.” Rathbone writes: “Mrs Fetherstonhaugh’s behaviour towards Lavanya was not due to racism. Back in Waterford she treated her Irish servants with the same contempt.”
However, during the Satichaura Ghat massacre, Stephen is rescued by Lavanya, while the other British with him are killed. And they begin their wandering again, while Sophie is unaware that her son is alive and well.
Given that there are so many theatres of action, it is tempting to flip pages to follow the story that seems most interesting to one. Amid the blood and gore, some sequences seem funny given our more liberal attitudes. “A letter from Mrs. Pamela Courtenay to her mother”, describing the mutiny at Lucknow and Sir Henry Lawrence’s death, preens at the fact that the writer managed to change the tourniquet placed near a man’s groin without loss of modesty. Another incident that lingers has nothing to do with the main events. Twenty years later, Queen Victoria speaks to her gardener about the events at Lucknow and Rathbone makes the queen appear quite human, rather than the aloof royal that she is supposed to have been.
The book can essentially be seen as two: one fictional and the other historical. And both keep the reader glued to the pages.
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