The Later India Novels Part A: Beggars’ Horses & Explosion

The Later India Novels Part A contains two novels, Beggars’ Horses, published in America in 1943, after Wren’s death, as The Dark Woman, and Explosion which never saw an American publication. Beggars’ Horses is the story of six British army officers who have a confrontation with an Indian fakir or Holy Man. The six officers are asked what they would wish for. One asks for great strength, the others ask to be healthy, to live a long life, for happiness, for great wealth, and for great courage. The rest of the story is how the six men obtain their wishes and how a dark woman interacts with them. Explosion deals with a plot by Indian agitators to use a large bomb to kill British officials and destroy several buildings: a literal explosion. The main characters are Anthony Steele, the Superintendent of Police, and Betty Gopaldas, an young English woman married to an Indian, who is one of the group of agitators planning the explosion. With Betty, being infatuated with Steele, he is able to persuade her to help him uncover the bomb plot. There are minor plots about British society in an Indian city during the British Raj, and Wren is able to convey the thoughts and feelings of a strong Imperialist in favor of British rule.