The Sabre's Edge: (The Matthew Hervey Adventures: 5):A gripping, action-packed military adventure from bestselling author Allan

Description

The year is 1824; the Sixth Light Dragoons are still stationed in India, and the talk in the officer's mess is of war. The Burmese are increasingly challenging the Company's dominion, and skirmishes are becoming common on India's borders. Meanwhile, across the country in Rajputana, a princely succession has been usurped. The rightful claimant to the raj, Balwant Singh, has been forced from the throne by the war monger Durjan Sal. A conflagration looks set to flare, taking the surrounding provinces with it. With the threat of war on two fronts, British troops must intervene. The trial ahead will test Hervey and his newly blooded troop to their very limits, for Durjan Sal has taken refuge in the infamous fortress of Bhurtpore. The fortress stands within a five-mile in perimeter, a deep ditch runs around it which can be flooded at a moment's notice, and thirty-five turreted bastions rise from its thick and lofty walls. And as the Tower of Victory, built two decades before with the skulls of Lord Lake's defeated men, bears witness, it has withstood all attacks. But no fortress is impregnable, given the will, the wit and the means. Of one thing Hervey can be sure: the siege of Bhurtpore will be hot, bloody and dangerous work. Once again, the fortunes of Matthew Hervey and his courageous troop will be decided by the sabre's edge.

A professional solder for thirty-five years, Allan Mallinson began writing while still serving. His first book was a history of four regiments of British light dragoons, one of which he commanded. His debut novel was the bestselling A Close Run Thing, the first in an acclaimed series chronicling the life of a fictitious cavalry officer before and after Waterloo (The Tigress of Mysore is the fourteenth in the series). His The Making of the British Army was shortlisted for a number of prizes, while 1914- Fight the Good Fight won the British Army's 'Book of the Year' Award. Its sequel, Too Important for the Generals, is a provocative look at leadership during the Great War, while Fight to the Finish is a comprehensive history of the First World War, month by month. Allan Mallinson reviews for the Spectator and the TLS and also writes for The Times. He lives on Salisbury Plain.

"'Splendid...the tale is as historically stimulating as it is stirringly exciting'" Sunday Telegraph "'What a hero! What an author! What a book! A joy for the lover of adventure and military buff alike'" The Times "We have joined for action and to see the world and that is what we get...a novel for our time, perhaps?" Spectator "Hervey is the thinking man's Sharpe. Mallinson is the true heir to Patrick O'Brian" Daily Mirror "'Mallinson's descriptions of regimental life and of the campaigns themselves ... crackle with detail and atmosphere ... Makes for an engrossing read, full of blood and valour.'" Observer