India 1857: The British East India Company's disregard for the religious beliefs of the Indian soldiers who man their army makes mutiny inevitable. With 230,000 Indian Sepoys to 45,000 British soldiers the balance of power has become untenable. When the first English Commandant is killed by a frustrated Sepoy, the entire Ganges valley explodes into war. One British outpost after another goes up in flames along the Ganges. The common man-driven to desperate measures by poverty and generations of inherited debt-is trapped between native kingdoms where convicted felons are trampled to death by elephants and British protectorates where they are blown to bits by canons. Helpless flotsam caught in the backlash are the victims: Sepoy Daulat Ram who risks arrest and execution by carrying his English Captain's five-year-old daughter to safety; his brother Kamal who struggles to support his extended family and protect them from the mysterious terror that stalks the village; while Lila, heir to the impoverished kingdom of Paramgar, forced into a politically expedient marriage with a stranger in spite of her hopeless entanglement with a British officer, is hounded from one end of the country to the other in a bid to escape her almost certain annihilation.
About the Author: Nirmala Moorthys first two novels are "Maya", first published by Penguin and "The Coiled Serpent", first published by Clocktower Fiction, both of which were finalists in the San Diego Book Awards. The River Turned Red, first published by PublishAmerica in 2003 topped the list of "Ten favorite Fiction Picks" selected by the Pasadena Weekly, an affiliate of the Los Angeles Times. What reviewers have said about The River turned Red: "While it is of particular interest to the literary elite and students of history, sociology and anthropology, The River Turned Red is a mass-market novel with a widespread appeal."-India Journal, Los Angeles. "A book that is hard to put down or forget."-Barnes & Noble.com Moorthy's writing jumps off the page and grabs you."-Phyllis Gebauer, author of The Pagan Blessing and UCLA's Outstanding Teacher in Creative Writing. "Moorthy's characters are down-to-earth and identifiable. Her writing entices you right from the very onset and stays long after the last page is turned." -The Asian Age, India. "Finally a local author who is worth every word she writes." -The Pasadena weekly, Los Angeles.