imported>GrahamHardy: added Category:Michael Joseph books using HotCat

2020-09-29T20:10:43Z

added Category:Michael Joseph books using HotCat

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| name = The Lotus and the Wind
| image = TheLotusAndTheWind.jpg
| caption = First edition (publ. [[Michael Joseph (publisher)|Michael Joseph]]
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'''''The Lotus and the Wind''''' is a [[Spy fiction|spy novel]] by [[John Masters]] published in 1953. It continues his saga of the Savage family, who are part of the [[British Raj]] in India, and is set against the backdrop of the [[Great Game]], the period of tension between Britain and Russia in [[Central Asia]] during the late nineteenth century.

==Plot summary==
The story is told through the viewpoints of Lieutenant Robin Savage and the innocent but determined Anne Hildreth, although Savage's viewpoint predominates later in the novel. It begins in 1879, when Britain and [[Afghanistan]] are engaged in the [[Second Anglo-Afghan War]].

Anne Hildreth and Robin Savage have met and become attracted to each other before the narrative starts. Anne is the daughter of a [[Commissariat]] officer and is travelling with her parents to the military post at [[Peshawar]] in the [[North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955)|North-West Frontier Province]] of India. En route, she witnesses the murder of an Afghan stranger. In his last moments, the murdered man writes the word "atlar" (horses) in his own blood.

Meanwhile, Robin is part of a military column in Afghanistan. He is the son of a distinguished soldier and has almost been forced to follow in his father's footsteps, but has no particular thirst for action. As the result of an accident, and a superior officer's bungling, he is accused of cowardice, and is also sent to Peshawar to await a military court of inquiry.

Life threatens to be awkward, but an acquaintance, Major Hayling, connects the murder witnessed by Anne with a souvenir collected by Robin in Afghanistan, a [[jezail]] with the words "atlar shimal" (horses, north) engraved on it. Realising that Robin's true passion is for solitude and empty spaces, Hayling recruits him into the Secret Service and sends him in disguise into Central Asia. Accompanied by a faithful [[Gurkha]] orderly, Robin sets out to discover the motive behind the murder and determine whether it is connected with the ambitions of [[Tsarist]] Russia. Before departing he marries Anne.

Ultimately returning to British India, Robin is reunited with his wife and infant children. He is decorated with the [[Distinguished Service Order]] in recognition of his achievements, and appears to have achieved conventional success. However, he disappears across the frontier again in pursuit of his semi-mystical goals. Anne is left to accept the unbridgeable divide between herself as the Lotus and Robin as the Wind.

==Relations to other books in the series==
Robin is the son of Rodney Savage, the protagonist of ''[[Nightrunners of Bengal]]''. Robin is around two years old when the [[Sepoy Mutiny]] occurs and his mother is murdered. Robin's son is Peter Savage, who features in ''Far, Far the Mountain Peak''.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lotus And The Wind, The}}
[[Category:1953 British novels]]
[[Category:Novels by John Masters]]
[[Category:Novels set in India]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1879]]
[[Category:Novels about The Great Game]]
[[Category:Novels set in Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Chitrali culture]]
[[Category:Peshawar]]
[[Category:British spy novels]]
[[Category:Novels set in British India]]
[[Category:Michael Joseph books]]

{{1950s-spy-novel-stub}}

The Lotus and the Wind - Revision history

imported>GrahamHardy: added Category:Michael Joseph books using HotCat