The Plague of the Heart

Set around a fortress town called Sar, the narrative follows a small garrison and the civilians attached to it as political tensions erupt into a siege of the palace; officers negotiate with local rulers, casualties and charpoys carry the dead, and the British representative assumes leadership amid mistrust. Parallel strands examine a woman's social standing after violence and the personal tests of courage and judgment faced by the men in command. Scenes alternate between military maneuver, intimate domestic loss, and the moral reckonings provoked by conflict, exploring honor, reputation, and the strain of imperial duty on private lives.