Thomas Jones Barker's painting The Relief of Lucknow 1857 adorns the cover of The Queen's Tiger, an event which takes place towards the novel's end. Three men stand shaking hands in the centre of a crowded scene are surrounded by members of the Persian and British Armies, injured men lying in the foreground and smoke rising from behind exotic buildings in the background. We meet two of the men early - Major General Sir Henry Havelock and Lieutenant General Sir James Outram. The third is Sir Colin Campbell, Commander in Chief in India, who ultimately lifts the dreadful siege.
"It is 1857. Colonial India is a simmering volcano of nationalism about to erupt." While the British call this the Indian Mutiny, it is known in India as the First War of Independence. The Prologue inserts into the troubled scene a honeymoon couple, Army Surgeon Peter Campbell and his wife Alice, née Forbes, visiting Peter's brother, a major in The East India Company's army, stationed at Murshidabad in Bengal. Then we plunge into the Anglo-Persian War to meet Sergeant Curry and Captain Forbes - surely a coincidence of names. Their bravery brings glory and attracts the admiration of Generals Outram and Havelock who know of Forbes' remarkable service record in the Crimea, but we learn Samuel Forbes is actually Ian Steele, a 'Colonial' from New South Wales.
The identity swap, contained in Watt's earlier novel The Queen's Colonial, would prepare readers for the plot's complications. Rapid scene changes between Persia, England and India involve multiple characters often similarly named. Star-crossed lovers, murderous acts, identical twin sisters separated at birth and uncanny likenesses abound. There are far-fetched connections and too many coincidental meetings. Travel time is often telescoped both for an army on the march and individuals making their way through dangerous territory. Peter and Alice (she has already shot a tiger and charmed an Indian ruler - is she the Queen's Tiger?) manage to be in Meerut for the outbreak of the insurrection, perform surgery on wounded men on Delhi's Ridge before boarding the same ship as Samuel/Ian in Calcutta on Christmas Day 1858? This should be 1857 or else Alice's pregnancy is 18 months already.
There are many references to the accuracy and range of the Enfield rifle in the hands of British troops, and this partly explains a major cause for discontent among Indian sepoys which helped spark the Mutiny. From then on it is very much a triumph of British weaponry. Watt's background as soldier, police officer and private investigator gives legitimacy to his vivid descriptions of warfare, as well as detailed intrigue.
- Claudia Hyles is a Canberra writer and reviewer with a great interest in South Asia.
- The Queen's Tiger, by Peter Watt. Pan Macmillan. $24.95.
