1915. While war rages across the globe, an old man dies in a Sydney hospice. The coroner suspects he was poisoned. But by whom? His estranged son, a Major in the British Army suddenly sailed for Africa? Or the nurse who tended him - a sullen, watchful girl who seems to garner mistrust wherever she goes?
After his hasty and unseemly departure, Major 'Freddy' mannsteim is give command of the 129th Baluchis, a mixed Indian regiment shattered during the bitter winter fighting of 1914-1915 in Northern France. He proves a rather reluctant saviour who steers his men on a strange and dangerous course that eventually collides with reality deep in the African jungle. - Back cover