Beggars’ Horses

by P. C. Wren

First published 1934

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2.5(5)

In British India, people constrained by money, status and past decisions pursue opportunities they would not have chosen under easier circumstances. A woman whose identity and motives are not immediately understood becomes the focus of suspicion and desire, while the men around her discover that necessity can make beggars accept dangerous ‘horses’—alliances, risks and compromises.

The novel is less a straightforward campaign adventure than a colonial mystery of character. Wren uses the closed social world of Anglo-India to examine reputation, economic dependence and the speed with which unconventional behaviour is judged. Romance and suspense emerge from the gap between what the characters need others to believe and what they are prepared to do.