The blurb on the cover of this book says "Based on the life of the Indian mathematician who discovered Mount Everest". That's somewhat inaccurate; what Radhanath Sikdar did is pretty amazing but he didn't "discover" Mount Everest. He did accurately measure the height of the mountain (which wasn't called Everest until later) and confirmed that it was the highest mountain in the world.

As an Indian, Sikdar was routinely overlooked for recognition of his prodigious feats of mathematics and measurement.Even after it was pronounced in 1856 that Everest was the highest mountain his superiors in the Great Trigonometric Survey (GTS) gave him little credit. This book is set after this achievement in the year 1857. That was the year that many Indian soldiers rebelled against the British rulers in what was called the sepoy mutiny or the Indian Rebellion.Sikdar was in Calcutta which was away from the main areas of rebellion. Many British fled from the regions that were in conflict to Calcutta which was deemed to be safe. Sara Langley, a young British woman whom Sikdar had met at a lavish hunting party in the Himalayas, had fled to Calcutta from Jainagar with help from a local ruler. Sikdar was delighted to see her and soon was vying for her attentions. Sara's other admirer was a Frenchman named Dubois who was friendly with a great many native Indians. In fact, Dubois was involved with some people who were seeking to break free of British reign and he came up with an idea to blow up the GTS tower outside of Calcutta as a signal to the local troops to rebel. When Sikdar and Sara happened to be at the tower on the night of the planned explosion that scheme came to nought.

Sikdar may have dreamed about having are relationship with Sara but in that time and place it could never have happened. In fact, although the authors say this book is based upon real events, I can't believe that a young British woman would ever have been unescorted to the extent Sara was. That was the main reason I deducted half a star from my rating as, otherwise, this was a very interesting book. ( )

I was given a copy of this book as an Early Reviewer, my opinions are entirely my own. This is a book based on the history of the mutiny against British rule in India, specifically in the Calcutta area in the 1850s. The central character is Radhanath Sikdar a mathematician whose skills allowed Peak XV of the Himalayas to be measured. This was eventually renamed Everest. The writing in this book is somewhat stilted although the flow of the narrative still comes through. There is clear evidence of research to provide historical accuracy and this is knitted in to the story of the main characters. I was initially attracted to this book through my two greatest loves; mathematics and mountains. Unfortunately neither of these feature in the novel. For most readers this will not detract from what is an entertaining read. ( )

At first, I wondered how a book about a mathematician "discovering" Mount Everest could be interesting, but the book actually did hold my interest. It was slow-moving at times, but I could never say I was bored by it. The book drew you in to his life and that of his friends, but I wish the authors had provided a note at the end to distinguish between what was actual fact and what was made up, as I suspect most of the story about him was made up except for his discovering of the true height of Mount Everest. The parts about the Indian Mutiny were described well, but I was left wondering how to feel about both sides, of the British and the Indians. Even the ending of the book leaves us pessimistic about relations between Indians and non-Indians--and, again, I wondered what did the mathematician really feel about the British, and is there documentation that he was pessimistic about it. The only thing that bothered me about the book was the wrong use of the present tense within sentences that began with past tense (for example, using the tense of direct dialogue when the context required the past tense of indirect dialogue). Other than that, I thought the book was intriguing, but didn't seem to have a positive message about intercultural relations. ( )

This historical fiction book is set in mid nineteenth century India. It tells of an Indian man working for the geological survey who meets a British woman. Set against the backdrop of the Indian Mutiny, this book explored the intersections of relationships between two cultures, the rulers and the ruled. I found it very challenging as it forced me to consider the impact colonialism had on individuals from both sides and their interactions with those they knew and loved. This is a really good book. Thank you ( )