"A fascinating account of a little-appreciated branch of the armed forces" - Booklist 1853, Khunobad Province, India. Captain Rowan DeMayne has served for six boring years with the 43rd Light Dragoons in an isolated Indian outpost. He and his comrades-in-arms yearn for honour and glory in battle. Mary Clarke, born in a barrack room and twice widowed at eighteen, yearns only to rise above her lowly destiny. To avoid a third marriage she takes on menial work in the fetid camp hospital, and there tends Rowan, who is suffering terrible wounds on return from a dangerous solo mission. The long-awaited call to arms is cheered by the 43rd, but the war is in the Crimea, where they are to replace the lost Light Brigade. They must cross oceans and continents for the glory they desire, taking with them all they own, their family, horses, equipment, and weapons. During the hazardous trek, Rowan is forced to compare his self-centred wife with Mary, a true daughter of the regiment. Society holds them apart, but the pair are slowly drawn close by the demands of war. They have to face painful reality when they reach journey's end at the gates of Sebastopol ... Faced with unimaginable horrors, Mary and Rowan find themselves looking to each other, to cast light in what seems like interminable darkness... 420 pages Elizabeth Darrell is the pen-name of Emma Drummond, born in 1931. Her father was a member of the British Army stationed in Hong Kong, where Drummond spent the early years of her life. As well as writing books, she worked in the Women's Royal Army Corps. She is the bestselling author of many historical romances as well as the popular World War II novels And In The Morning, At The Going Down Of The Sun, We Will Remember and Scarlet Shadows.