A Season in Hell by Michael Edwardes

A Season in Hell Reviews

• 
  Gerry

  The story of an heroic stand against the odds.
  
  How did such a small garrison resist the attacks of a force more than 20 times its size? The Indian Mutiny of 1857 is the background for this defence of the Lucknow Residency, where many died but eventually the surviving garrison was relieved and everyone got to safety.
  
  There are many tales of heroic actions and messengers getting through enemy lines to assist in the relief force attack. Amazingly the messages were sent in Greek so that, if intercepted, they would not be understood. Obviously the army at the time was staffed with well-educated soldiers!
  
  The book captures that atmosphere of a monsoon hit India and a garrison that somehow managed to cling on until help arrived.
• 
  Matt

  Engaging account of a seminal event in the history of the British Empire: the 1857 Sepoy rebellion in India. Through the veil of enlightened modern eyes, it's hard to feel too sorry for the besieged "invaders" and you'd never accuse Edwardes of sympathizing with the mutineers, but he does a credible job of recounting the traumatic three months the British-many of them women and children-spent being daily bombarded with shells and plagued by disease and starvation. Edwardes avoids the temptation to over-emotionalize the plight of the British while keeping the reader invested in their ultimate fate. Overall, this is an interesting and important story for anyone who seeks an understanding of the controversial time in which a tiny minority of British colonizers ruled the vast sub-continent filled with millions of Indian subjects who greatly resented the "white plague" that spread religious persecution and racial subjugation. A compelling human drama played out on a fascinating historical stage.