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The Devil's Wind
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
440 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1912
137 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Wentworth
162 books522 followersPatricia Wentworth--born Dora Amy Elles--was a British crime fiction writer.
She was educated privately and at Blackheath High School in London. After the death of her first husband, George F. Dillon, in 1906, she settled in Camberley, Surrey. She married George Oliver Turnbull in 1920 and they had one daughter.
She wrote a series of 32 classic-style whodunnits featuring Miss Silver, the first of which was published in 1928, and the last in 1961, the year of her death.
Miss Silver, a retired governess-turned private detective, is sometimes compared to Jane Marple, the elderly detective created by Agatha Christie. She works closely with Scotland Yard, especially Inspector Frank Abbott and is fond of quoting the poet Tennyson.
Wentworth also wrote 34 books outside of that series.
She was educated privately and at Blackheath High School in London. After the death of her first husband, George F. Dillon, in 1906, she settled in Camberley, Surrey. She married George Oliver Turnbull in 1920 and they had one daughter.
She wrote a series of 32 classic-style whodunnits featuring Miss Silver, the first of which was published in 1928, and the last in 1961, the year of her death.
Miss Silver, a retired governess-turned private detective, is sometimes compared to Jane Marple, the elderly detective created by Agatha Christie. She works closely with Scotland Yard, especially Inspector Frank Abbott and is fond of quoting the poet Tennyson.
Wentworth also wrote 34 books outside of that series.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 27, 2022
This book is a love story set at the time of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. I found some of the writing good but the climatic scenes were often extremely melodramatic and tacky. This book should be left in the Victorian age were readers might have appreciated it but unfortunately it was written after that time and I can certainly see why it is one of the author’s lesser known works. There is poetry at the beginning of each chapter which was a frequent feature of books written at that time and much of it is melodramatic and definitely tinged with what I would call a lavender hue. Not great, I wonder if the author wrote most of it? The historical details are very compressed and must have been written for an audience that was very familiar with this event though some of the details are inaccurate, such as how much the Nana Sahib knew and whether he had actually planned it. She does not mention the even worse massacre that occurred after the scene at the river and then even worse reprisals the British took afterwards against the Indians. The death scene at the end ispure Victorian melodrama and the ending so abrupt as to be shocking. I do not recommend this story at all. Don’t waste your time.
February 23, 2017
P. Wentworth gifted to put into the written word what i thought was beyond words.
Great Historical Fiction! This may be her best work, but I have many more of her works yet unread. I feel like a child in a candy shop!
Great Historical Fiction! This may be her best work, but I have many more of her works yet unread. I feel like a child in a candy shop!
February 19, 2016
Laughter, bated breath and tears
I have read and enjoyed every Miss Silver book written. I wasn't sure about an historical romance. But Pat Wentworth did a superb job. She brought this part of history alive. And to k ow that she actually talked to someone that knew this history makes it even more believable. I laughed, I held my breath and I cried. I love this this book.
I have read and enjoyed every Miss Silver book written. I wasn't sure about an historical romance. But Pat Wentworth did a superb job. She brought this part of history alive. And to k ow that she actually talked to someone that knew this history makes it even more believable. I laughed, I held my breath and I cried. I love this this book.
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December 21, 2015Free download available at InternetArchive
October 13, 2021
Well written for the most part, although the story was disturbing--as one might expect since it's about the India uprising against British colonial rule. How disturbing it must be to not know if loved ones are alive or dead or have them presumed dead or alive and then to find out otherwise--and even more disturbing to know that this happens still today--although the stigma of divorce and remarriage is considerably less, but still present.
April 11, 2021
Way too long and too complicated! The history is interesting but the whole presentation is extremely complex for someone to read with no knowledge of the events of Uprisings against the English is India.
The story is intriguing but I wouldn't recommend this book.
The story is intriguing but I wouldn't recommend this book.
Read
January 10, 2022This is a most engaging book, but maybe not for the faint of heart as it tells the story of a young woman, including her presence at the Cawnpore Massacre. As usual with Wentworth, the characters are rich and varied, and the details well researched.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2018
A historical romance set in the horrific era of an Indian uprising during British colonial times. A good read.
Read
July 5, 2020Could not get past the racism in the first few chapters.
July 10, 2024
I have always enjoyed Patricia Wentworth's books, but not this one very much. The descriptions were quite wordy and the plot disturbing. I wouldn't recommend it.
November 25, 2018
Conflicted romance centred around a fictional retelling of the siege at Cawnpore during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.
Captain Richard Morton is the one British Officer to read the danger signs leading up to the mutiny - the refusal to use the gun cartridges said to greased in the fat of swine and cattle, the rumours that an attempt was being made to convert the population to Christianity, the ominous passing round of the chapatis etc.
He is married to the flirtatious Adela, although it's abundantly clear that her more sensible cousin Helen is a better match, who just happens to be in love with him. The mutiny throws them together in unusual circumstances.
Wentworth is better known as a mystery writer in the vein of Agatha Christie. Before she turned her hand to churning out whodunnits she used to write historical romances. The prose and dialogue here are competent, the historical aspects well handled, the characters not so well done.
Adela Morton is simply vacuous beyond redemption. Helen is certainly superior, her strength during the siege and afterwards commend her, but she turns to putty when her love for Richard kicks in, as unremarkable as he is.
When the attack finally comes it does so suddenly and is all the more devastating for it. The confusion is well recreated. Women and children are not spared, babies die on mother's breasts, the dead pile up. But then surprisingly the month long siege is barely given a couple of chapters.
I wouldn't exactly say that the Indian leaders of the mutiny were demonised by Wentworth's characterisation of them, but the constant references to their garish jewellery wasn't intended as flattery. You can only cringe at the bigotry of so many English writers of the time.
Even the heroine, Helen, had an acknowledged prejudice against anyone with a dark skin, though this was expressed early and clearly meant as foreshadowing of the mutiny to come. Mercifully in the rest of her behaviour she was just about the least condescendingly racist character.
I couldn't help but be reminded of J G Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapour. He used this identical situation to satirise the same type of arrogant, chauvinistic, colonial stiff upper-lippery on display here.
Captain Richard Morton is the one British Officer to read the danger signs leading up to the mutiny - the refusal to use the gun cartridges said to greased in the fat of swine and cattle, the rumours that an attempt was being made to convert the population to Christianity, the ominous passing round of the chapatis etc.
He is married to the flirtatious Adela, although it's abundantly clear that her more sensible cousin Helen is a better match, who just happens to be in love with him. The mutiny throws them together in unusual circumstances.
Wentworth is better known as a mystery writer in the vein of Agatha Christie. Before she turned her hand to churning out whodunnits she used to write historical romances. The prose and dialogue here are competent, the historical aspects well handled, the characters not so well done.
Adela Morton is simply vacuous beyond redemption. Helen is certainly superior, her strength during the siege and afterwards commend her, but she turns to putty when her love for Richard kicks in, as unremarkable as he is.
When the attack finally comes it does so suddenly and is all the more devastating for it. The confusion is well recreated. Women and children are not spared, babies die on mother's breasts, the dead pile up. But then surprisingly the month long siege is barely given a couple of chapters.
I wouldn't exactly say that the Indian leaders of the mutiny were demonised by Wentworth's characterisation of them, but the constant references to their garish jewellery wasn't intended as flattery. You can only cringe at the bigotry of so many English writers of the time.
Even the heroine, Helen, had an acknowledged prejudice against anyone with a dark skin, though this was expressed early and clearly meant as foreshadowing of the mutiny to come. Mercifully in the rest of her behaviour she was just about the least condescendingly racist character.
I couldn't help but be reminded of J G Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapour. He used this identical situation to satirise the same type of arrogant, chauvinistic, colonial stiff upper-lippery on display here.
December 28, 2015
Good read
I enjoyed this. Ms Wentworth's prose is not at all dated. I was very taken with how well she writes, and passages that might seem too flowery or over the top by another writer actually pleased me a great deal, some I chose to reread and think about for a moment they were so well expressed. Her descriptions of incidents in the Mutiny are first rate and accurate. This is however a little love story as well as an adventure, but not a war story so don't expect too much along that line. Some nicely handled complications, and a satisfying read.
I enjoyed this. Ms Wentworth's prose is not at all dated. I was very taken with how well she writes, and passages that might seem too flowery or over the top by another writer actually pleased me a great deal, some I chose to reread and think about for a moment they were so well expressed. Her descriptions of incidents in the Mutiny are first rate and accurate. This is however a little love story as well as an adventure, but not a war story so don't expect too much along that line. Some nicely handled complications, and a satisfying read.
July 20, 2016
Tragic and heartbreaking at times. The selfish and the selfless, and how they react in times of peace and during a catastrophe. Read this free on google books.
November 6, 2016
Interesting historical fiction portrayal of the Indian Mutiny.
March 26, 2017
This is an absolutely saccharine and maudlin as hell sentimental, historical romance. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Wentworth's description of the mutiny were unsparingly realistic down to the death of every mother, child and baby. I found this quite shocking - so much more violently graphic than writing in her later novels but powerful nevertheless. Her suspenseful plotting is also quite masterful and fully engrossing.
The twisting plot of the romance was laid down over the harrowing events of the mutiny. The heroine is hugely likeable and deserving if very much the cloying angel of the house; the hero is a typically alpha male of the stiff upper lip although he does fall into typically Wentworthian fountains of tearful devotions of love. Even Wentworth's descriptive writing is powerfully evocative in a neo-Gothic way especially when delineating the sublime essence of the natural world.
In another writer's hand this material would be either tedious or hugely melodramatic but somehow Wentworth manages to pull it all together even though this is a very early, out of print (?) novel.
I initially had misgivings about the casual rascism of even the hero but, then, Wentworth was writing at a time when issues of race and empire were viewed very differently. Wentworth's use of verse at the beginning of each chapter gave the plot away somewhat. Her penchant for quoting maudlin 19th century verse is one of the few failings of her writing. Another is her attempt to capture the authentic vernacular of eccentric secondary characters. Sometimes it works, sometimes her attempts can be annoying and just so much padding.
I am sad as I think I have almost reached the last of her seventy plus novels. ☹️
Wentworth's description of the mutiny were unsparingly realistic down to the death of every mother, child and baby. I found this quite shocking - so much more violently graphic than writing in her later novels but powerful nevertheless. Her suspenseful plotting is also quite masterful and fully engrossing.
The twisting plot of the romance was laid down over the harrowing events of the mutiny. The heroine is hugely likeable and deserving if very much the cloying angel of the house; the hero is a typically alpha male of the stiff upper lip although he does fall into typically Wentworthian fountains of tearful devotions of love. Even Wentworth's descriptive writing is powerfully evocative in a neo-Gothic way especially when delineating the sublime essence of the natural world.
In another writer's hand this material would be either tedious or hugely melodramatic but somehow Wentworth manages to pull it all together even though this is a very early, out of print (?) novel.
I initially had misgivings about the casual rascism of even the hero but, then, Wentworth was writing at a time when issues of race and empire were viewed very differently. Wentworth's use of verse at the beginning of each chapter gave the plot away somewhat. Her penchant for quoting maudlin 19th century verse is one of the few failings of her writing. Another is her attempt to capture the authentic vernacular of eccentric secondary characters. Sometimes it works, sometimes her attempts can be annoying and just so much padding.
I am sad as I think I have almost reached the last of her seventy plus novels. ☹️
April 17, 2017
I knew Patricia Wentworth for her Miss Silver mystery novels, and when looking for a book for my Kindle I did not really check to see what this book was about, I just picked one with an unfamiliar title. Turns out, this tale is set during the years before and during the Indian rebellion of 1857 and chronicles the carnage of such events as the siege of Kanpur. A hair-raising story.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews