In Khartoum the trumpeters, layers of red sand glittering on their faces, are posted at each corner of the palace roof. Trapped between the desert and the Jihad, oblivious to the heat and the impending dust storm, General Gordon is waiting, hopelessly, for Wolseley's camel corps to cross the shimmering land and rescue him. He begins to hallucinate betrayals and beheadings; unwittingly he is about to touch and change lives far beyond his own including those of a London doctor, John Clark and his wife Mary, and especially the young boy from the English dockyard slums who now stands beside him, his reluctant last ally.

'Gripping . . . triumphantly successful. Her portrayal of the physical and mental hardships, even horrors, of the march is an extraordinarily fine piece of historical imagination. There is a tremendous battle scent and rich humour' Allan Massie, Scotsman
'Visceral vividness . . . she compels us to ask ourselves what it means to be an honourable man' Clare Clark, Guardian
'Beautifully drawn . . . wonderfully readable' Tina Jackson, Metro