In 1841, Mariana Givens arrives in newly conquered Kabul with the British Army. Her heart, however, remains in Lahore where her estranged native husband Hassan lies injured. Torn between his fascinating family and her own culture, she waits to learn if he can forgive her stupid accusation of betrayal, and whether she can ever return to him and her adored stepson. Meanwhile, the British colonials enjoy the fruits of Kabul, oblivious to the seething resentment of the people they think they have quelled. This complacency will place everyone Mariana loves in grave danger, but only she sees that the Afghan leaders believe in honour above all, and when they turn against the British the suffering will be unimaginable...

Author Biography

Thalassa M Ali was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, the daughter of two archaeologists: one English and one American. She received her bachelor's degree in fine arts from Radcliffe College in 1962. A year later she married a young man from Lahore, Pakistan, and moved to that country, where she remained for twelve years, dividing her time between Karachi and Lahore. Widowed suddenly at the age of thirty-one, she spent her last three years in Pakistan carrying on her deceased husband's businesses. After returning to Boston with her two children in 1975, she became a stockbroker. While her children were growing up, she worked at various investment houses, managing money for individual clients. In 1993, with her children launched, she turned to writing. Ali's love for Pakistan has remained strong over the past twenty-six years. She converted to Islam in 1984 on one of her many visits there. She is a member of Tauhidia, a Sufi brotherhood, whose headquarters are in Karachi. While still living in Pakistan, she began collecting books on nineteenth-century India with the intention of writing about that time and place. This is her first novel.