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Calamity and Courage

When only 21 and newly married, Ethel Grimwood was posted with her Political Agent husband Frank to Manipur, a remote region of north-east India. Two years later, in 1891, the young couple were caught up in an unexpected and violent uprising against the British by the local royal family. Showing sympathy for both sides, Belinda Morse weaves an exciting tale of bravery and endurance, as she recounts how Ethel managed to escape the nightmare, and yet remained emotionally attached to one of the leading princes. 'Poor Mrs Grimwood has lost everything she ever possessed,' wrote Queen Victoria, who befriended the heroine on her return to England. In the years to come, Ethel, who wrote her own fascinating book about the disaster, would be haunted by memories of the events that won her the Royal Red Cross. Ethel's portrait, exhibited at the Royal Academy the year after the disaster by Victorian artist John Hanson Walker, inspired this moving biography. The final chapter gives an interesting picture of present-day Manipur, which the author visited with her husband in 2006.

"A superb read about a little known disaster." Pennant