imported>Buistr: /* Plot summary */ Masters represents his lead character as being driven close to insanity.

2021-08-12T22:52:18Z

Plot summary: Masters represents his lead character as being driven close to insanity.

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{{Other uses|Nightrunner (disambiguation){{!}}Nightrunner}}
{{short description|1951 book by John Masters}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox book| 
| name = Nightrunners of Bengal
| orig title =
| translator =
| image = Image:JohnMasters NightrunnersOfBengal.jpg
| caption = First edition
| author = [[John Masters]]
| cover_artist =
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| series =
| genre =
| publisher = [[Michael Joseph (publisher)|Michael Joseph]]
| release_date = December 1951
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]] & [[Paperback]])
| pages = 381 pp
| isbn =
| oclc = 2067032
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}

'''''Nightrunners of Bengal''''' is the title of the first novel by [[John Masters]]. It is a work of historical fiction set against the background of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian Rebellion]] of 1857. It was published in 1951 in the United Kingdom by Michael Joseph, London, and in the United States (also 1951) by the Viking Press, New York.

The novel at first attracted criticism from reviewers, who objected to the depiction of Indians and what they perceived as overly graphic descriptions of acts of violence. However, it was made the American [[Literary Guild]]'s Book of the Month on publication, and was widely sold.

==Plot introduction==
It introduced the fictional Savage family, whose history of service in British India rather resembled that of Masters's ancestors.{{fact|date=February 2021}}

==Plot summary==

The novel is set in the [[Presidency of Bengal]] at the time of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian Rebellion]] of 1857. The central character, Captain Rodney Savage, is an officer in a [[Bengal Native Infantry]] regiment, stationed in the fictional city of Bhowani (which is in about the same location as the real city of [[Jhansi]]<ref>{{cite news|work=The Telegraph|location=Calcutta|date=December 29, 2007}}</ref><ref>Glossary entry for Bhowani, page 376 "Nightrunners of Bengal", Michael Joseph Ltd London</ref>). He is restless with garrison life, but is devoted to his regiment and its [[sepoy]]s (Indian soldiers).

In spite of his empathy with the sepoys, Savage does not realise that fear and resentment are driving them to intrigue with local rulers and other conspirators against the [[Company rule in India|rule]] of the [[East India Company]]. The complacent life of the [[Anglo-Indians|British community]] in Bengal is shattered by the Rebellion. Most of the British officers of the Bhowani garrison and their families (including Savage's wife) are killed in the outbreak or are subsequently murdered.

Savage escapes the massacre along with his infant son and an English woman, Caroline Langford. The small group of refugees are sheltered by sympathetic Indian villagers. For some time Savage's sense of betrayal and loss drives him into blind hatred of all Indians<ref>{{cite book|first=Douglas|last=Kerr|page=156|title=Orient and Empire in British Writing|ISBN=978-962-209-935-7}}</ref> and he kills an Indian officer who was his friend. Eventually the humanity and tolerance of the villagers, combined with his growing love for Caroline, enable him to recover from his near insanity. On reaching the British forces gathering to suppress the rebellion Savage finds that they also have beome infected with a desire for racist reprisals.

In a final clash, an emotionally torn Savage fights against his own former regiment. A charge by Indian [[cavalry]] who have remained loyal to the British turns the tide of battle.

The "nightrunners" in the title are messengers who distributed [[chapati]]s shortly before the outbreak of the rebellion. This mysterious historic incident remains unexplained.

==Principal characters ==
*Rodney Savage – captain in the fictional 13th Rifles, Bengal Native Infantry
*Caroline Langford – an Englishwoman visiting India who becomes Savage's new love
*Sumitra Devi, ''Rani'' (queen) of Kishanpur – female regent of the semi-independent princely state of Kishanapur
*Dewan of Kishanpur – chief minister under the Rani
*"The Silver Guru" – revered ascetic holy man (revealed towards the end as an Irish deserter from the British army and [[leprosy|leper]])
*Dellamain Mr – East India Company commissioner to Kishanapur and senior British civilian official in Bhowani.
*[[Risaldar]] Rikirao Purohit – a veteran Indian officer who leads the cavalry charge

==Relations with other books in the series==

''Coromandel!'' (1955) Takes place in the 17th-century, when an English youth named Savage runs away to sea and ends up in India – starting the family's centuries-long history of serving there.

''[[The Deceivers (Masters novel)|The Deceivers]]'' is about Rodney's father, William, who suppresses the [[Thugee]]. William's butler, Sher Dil, also appears in ''Nightrunners of Bengal'', now an old man, and working for Rodney. Piroo, an ex-Thug who was one of William's band in ''[[The Deceivers (Masters novel)|The Deceivers]]'' also appears in this book. He guides the English survivors to safety, amused at the irony that he is saving the son and grandson of the man who nearly had him hanged.

Rodney Savage appears as a middle-aged colonel, now married to Caroline, in ''[[The Lotus and the Wind]]'' and in ''[[Far, Far the Mountain Peak]]'' as an elderly retired general. He also makes a final appearance in ''[[The Ravi Lancers]]'' as a very old but still vivid man in 1915, who meets his younger relative, one of that book's main two protagonists. The elder Savage speaks then with concern of the conduct of the First World War.

Robin Savage, Rodney's son, features in ''[[The Lotus and the Wind]]'', a novel about the [[Great Game]]. Emotionally scarred by the trauma of his experiences as a child during the Mutiny of 1857 Robin becomes a secret agent and ultimately vanishes into Afghanistan.

''[[Bhowani Junction]]'', set in 1946–47, seems intended as a counterpoint to "Nightrunners of Bengal", and the two are more closely related to each other than to the other books of the Savage series. The later book also takes place in the fictional Bhowani and its environs, and specific locations are seen again changed by the passage of the century (for example, the metalled road which plays a significant part in ''Nightrunners'' has been replaced by the railway which plays an important role in ''Junction''). Moreover, one of the later book's protagonists is also called Rodney Savage (the great-grandson of the central character of ''Nightrunners'') and in many ways seems the same character. He meets the descendants of Sumitra Devi in the same settings where his ancestor had met her.

In the final sequel, ''[[To the Coral Strand]]'', this later Rodney Savage decides to stay on after the end of the British Raj and find a place for himself in the independent India.

==Awards and nominations==
The novel was awared the [[American Literary Guild]]'s Book of the Month upon publication.{{fact|date=February 2021}}

==Adaptation==
Film rights were bought by the Rank Organisation. [[Roy Ward Baker]] was to direct from an [[Eric Ambler]] script and [[Kenneth More]] was going to star.<ref>{{Cite news|title=' That Lady' Produces a New Star--Tax Relief Plea--Other Movie Matters|author=STEPHEN WATTS.|date=Mar 27, 1955|work=New York Times|page=X5}}</ref>

In the early 1960s [[John Wayne]] expressed interest making the film for [[Samuel Bronston]] with [[Henry Hathaway]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Looking at Hollywood: Henry Hathaway Tells Battle with Kim Novak|author=Hopper, Hedda|date=May 30, 1963|work=Chicago Tribune|page=c8}}</ref> However the film was never made.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nightrunners Of Bengal}}
[[Category:1951 British novels]]
[[Category:Novels by John Masters]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1857]]
[[Category:Novels set in Bengal]]
[[Category:Novels about the Indian Rebellion of 1857]]
[[Category:1951 debut novels]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Rani Laxmibai]]
[[Category:Michael Joseph books]]

Nightrunners of Bengal - Revision history

imported>Buistr: /* Plot summary */ Masters represents his lead character as being driven close to insanity.