James Gordon Farrell (1935–1979) is best known for three thematically linked novels: Troubles, The Siege of Krishnapur, and The Singapore Grip, collectively known as the Empire Trilogy. The Siege of Krishnapur, published in 1973, won that year's Booker Prize and was later shortlisted for the Best of the Booker in 2008.
Set in India in 1857, the story takes place in the fictional town of Krishnapur, a place with "nothing that a European might recognize as civilization," where a community of British colonials find themselves besieged in their residency compound when the Indian rebellion begins. The British are initially complacent. Dismissive of the locals and their supposed lack of enterprise, they see no threat to their own superiority, whether moral or military. But as the siege grinds on, hunger, disease, and desperation methodically strip away every illusion - about courage, honour, their Victorian ideals and the condescending mission to civilize the natives.
At the centre is Mr Hopkins, the Collector, responsible for Krishnapur's administration. A firm believer in material progress, he senses the danger early, and moves to shore up the compound's defences. George Fleury is a young gentleman whose artistic and spiritual aspirations are shaken by the brutality of the siege as he gradually hardens into a soldier. The two doctors, Dunstaple and McNab, one old fashioned and the other more modern, clash bitterly over ways to treat the worsening cholera outbreak as the bodies pile up.
Other characters include Tom Willoughby, the Magistrate, who is an eccentric pessimist, Louise Dunstaple, Fleury's love interest, her brother Harry, a brave young military officer, Miriam, Fleury's widowed sister, Lucy Hughes, a woman who is largely shunned by Krishnapur society over a past indiscretion, and the Padre who is driven to the edge of religious madness as the siege deepens.
Notably, there are no significant Indian characters, which might seem strange at first. But because Farrell’s goal is to satirize Victorian mores and customs - and he does this by letting his characters’ inherent sense of superiority strain against the ever-tightening noose of the siege - this narrow focus works for the novel.