Sent to India to find a husband, Mariana Givens is facing the prospect of returning to England in two months' time, ignominiously single. The grandeur of India, a country of soothsayers and magicians, unimaginable riches and destitution, has, however, been a revelation. And before her stay is finally over, she is to accompany the Governor- General's vast camp on its journey into the Punjab to meet, and they hope to forge an alliance with its ageing, one-eyed Maharajah. Little does she realise, but Mariana is being pulled into the fate, not just of the army's Afghan expedition, but of a child of whose existence she is not even aware ...

We always combine postage if possible!