Book description
George Hart, back in England following his heroics in the Zulu Wars,
scarcely has time to gamble away his meagre fortune when he is summoned
to a secret meeting in Whitehall. There, Prime Minister Disraeli himself
asks George to undertake a dangerous mission to Afghanistan. Mistrust
and dislike for the local ruler chosen by the British is growing and
Muslim extremists threaten to overthrow the local government. The
British cannot allow the loss of Afghanistan, which would put at risk
India, the jewel in the Imperial crown. Although he suspects that the
Establishment sees a part-Zulu officer as expendable, George can see
that his dark skin will help him go undercover, and soon, accompanied
only by a Pathan guide, he is descending the Khyber pass into a strange
and violent land. On the way he meets Yasmin, an alluring Afghan
princess, and together this unlikely trio find themselves in a race
against time to prevent a tribal uprising and head off a catastrophic
British invasion. Saul David is Professor of War Studies at the
University of Buckingham and the author of several critically-acclaimed
history books, including The Indian Mutiny: 1857 (shortlisted for the
Westminster Medal for Military Literature), and Zulu: The Heroism and
Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879 (a Waterstone's Military History Book of
the Year). Saul David has presented and appeared in history programmes
for all the major TV channels and is a regular contributor to Radio 4.
Visit Saul's website at www. sauldavid. co. uk.
