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Literature of the 1857 Mutiny / 1857 Rebellion

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Here, we will give an overview of literature of the 1857 Rebellion, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny. The best known novel centrally about this event might be Flora Annie Steel, but the events of 1857 also show up in many other texts from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The majority of 'explicit' Mutiny narratives are written by British writers and represent the British point of view, though arguably a book like Anandamath by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee may be interpreted as an 1857 novel in disguise. 

Flora Annie Steel, On the Face of the Waters (1896). A deeply-researched Mutiny narrative written by a prolific author who spent many years in India. Steel's novel is notable for its relative lack of racist stereotypes of Indians, its recognition of interracial romantic relationships, and engagement with with historical and geographical detail. 

Edward Money, The Wife and the Ward (1859). (Republished later as A Woman's Fortitude: A Tale of the Cawnpore Tragedy). A novel about a love triangle involving a British soldier, his wife, and his war. They are under threat by an armed Indian force in the 1857 rebellion, and struggle to survive. See a 2022 article by Meghna Sapuit on the topic. No digital edition available yet! 

George Tomkyns Chesney, The Dilemma, A Tale of the Mutiny (1876). A novel about a British soldier who fights in a remote British station in the Mutiny and is left disfigured, leading to disappointment in his romantic life. Available via HathiTrust

D.H. Thomas (aka R.E. Forrest), The Touchstone of Peril: A Tale of the Indian Mutiny (1887). Set at an indigo factory in a remote location in what is today Uttar Pradesh ("Upper Provinces" as it was known during the Raj era). 

R.E. Forrest, Eight Days (1891). 

Philip Meadows Taylor, Seeta (1872)

Robert Armitage Sterndale, The Afghan Knife (1879). 

A.F.P. Harcourt, The Peril of the Sword (1903)

Patricia Wentworth, Red Year (1908)

J.N.H. MacLean, The Rane: A Legend of the Indian Mutiny (1887)

G.A. Hentry, In Times of Peril (1883)

H.C. Irwin, With Sowrd and Pen: A Story of India in the Fifties (1903)

C.R. Fenn, Terrible Times (1899)

G. P. Raines, The Disputed V.C. (1903)

F.S. Brereton, Barclay of the Guides (1908)

Escott Lynn, A Hero of the Mutiny 

Charles E. Pearce, Red Revenge (1911)




Rudyard Kipling, "The Undertakers" (1895)
Rudyard Kipling, "The Lost Legion" (1891)
Rudyard Kipling, "The Mutiny of the Mavericks" (1891). Not about the 1857 events as such 

Jules Verne, The Steam House
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four 
Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone

Contents of this path:

  1. Flora Annie Steel, "On The Face of the Waters" (1896)