By the late 1990s this otherwise forgotten tract was ripe for rediscovery as the twin disciplines of feminism and post-colonial theory found much to commend in a woman’s view of the "mysterious East". A scholarly hardback, complete with footnotes, was edited by Indira Ghose and Sara Mills, and published with just the first nine words as the title. Now comes this paperback with the snappy title, Begums, Thugs & Englishmen.
Dalrymple is as enthusiastic about Parkes as she’s about India: "Her wild devil-may-care enthusiasm, insatiable curiosity and love of the country—immediately engages the reader and carries him or her with Fanny as she bumbles her way across India...wilfully dismissive of the dangers of dacoits or thugs or tigers."
This is not a book to be read cover to cover. It’s an ideal bathroom read, made for dipping into at random. Here’s Parkes on the aftermath of a fever that swept through Calcutta: "It is amusing to see, upon your return to the Course, the whole of the company stamped, like yourself, with the marks of the leech upon the temples."
There’s scarcely a dull sentence in the book, but even so, I’d rather the publisher had cut the text down to size rather than the type size. At times it feels like one’s reading a 350-page-long footnote—and Parkes deserves better than that.
