A darkly humorous picture of the follies of empire, still as relevant as ever, The Siege of Krishnapur is thought by many to be J. G. Farrell's finest book. Set in India in 1857 (the year of the Great Mutiny, when the Indian sepoys rose in bloody rebellion against their complacent British overlords), Farrell's novel concerns a remote Victorian outpost in the subcontinent. Rumors of strife filter in from afar, but the colonial community remains confident of its superior values, culture, and, of course, military strength - that is, until it is actually under siege. Then gaping cracks begin to open in the veneer of civilization.