Even a long experience of Indian and the customs of the Indians could have prepared John Sherer for the tumultuous events of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. A tax collector and magistrate, who first arrived in India in 1846, Sherer was posted to the North-West provinces when the Sepoy Revolt started. His experiences as narrated here form an interesting counter point to the military narratives that were written on the engagements of the mutiny. He and his fellow non-combatants and administrators were thrown to the wind as all the official British authorities attempted to put down the revolt. Widely lauded when the book was first published in 1910, it is a must for anyone interested in the Indian Mutiny.