NeoGuides / Read Now / A Neglected Classic

The Siege of Krishnapur may be the best book you've never heard of. The 1973 novel by English writer J.G. Farrell tells the story of a (fictional) garrison town besieged during the 1857 Indian Rebellion. Or rather, it tells the story of the conflict from the perspective of the increasingly powerless occupying Britons, besieged by their formerly subordinate native soldiers.

It certainly got attention at the time of publication – it won the Booker Prize that year. (Farrell took the opportunity of his acceptance speech to attack then sponsors Booker-McConnell for their business dealings.) The Siege was the middle of a loosely connected series of books, one set in Ireland, one in Asia, known as the Empire Trilogy. But just a year after publishing The Singapore Grip, Farrell was swept out to sea while fishing near his Irish home and drowned.

The 35 years since The Siege of Krishnapur was published saw it slide into obscurity among all but the devotees. Until now, that is. This year it was one of the half-dozen contenders for the prize of The Best of the Booker, chosen by a literary panel and voted on by the public. Although Salman Rushdie was the unsurprising winner, with Midnight's Children, the simple fact of Siege's inclusion has cast welcome light on a neglected classic.

Guardian critic Sue Arnold describes Farrell as "the funniest novelist in English since Evelyn Waugh, with the same eye for the absurd as Tom Sharpe" and his book as "hilarious and horrifying by turns". To read an excerpt, click here .