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The Scarlet Sword


lunababymoonchild

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Set in 1947 in Kashmir this is the fictional story of a Mission that gets caught in the middle of the war and gets occupied by Afridi and Pathan warriors.  There are a large number of characters for Bates to explore and he does so with great insight. There are women and children at the mission along with Europeans, and the Mission cannot defend itself. The mission is also subject to aerial attacks. The occupation only lasts about 10 days but it feels very much longer and not everybody survives. They are finally liberated by the British Army.

 

It's incredibly well written and subtley done, so that the horror of war is expressed but not in a gory or blunt way. The characters are well drawn and the whole story feels very real.

 

An outstanding achievement and well worth reading.

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