Feringhee—White-skinned foreigner

"In the end, Feringhee, you will become the dust we shake off our sandals, and India will be as she always was—beautiful, terrifying, and eternal."

Exiled from the Ottoman Empire, where the people he loved were dead or beyond his reach, Nathan is a man without hope. He joins the army of the East India Company.

With little regard for his life, Nathan carries out dangerous missions that take him into India's remote villages and jungles, tracking slavers and bandits. He travels to the steppes of Central Asia to redeem two kidnapped English girls.

There, he must contend with an old nemesis.

Gravely wounded as he flees khanate tribesmen into the mountain pass of the Hindy Kush, Nathan welcomes death as he loses consciousness.

He is disappointed to awake still alive. A small, dark Kalbelia gypsy girl, Perla, skillfully tends him. Perla claims to know Nathan; however, he does not remember her.

That she can act as his physician and is familiar with both English and Indian medicine is also puzzling.

"When you decide to live, I'll tell you who I am," she says.

As he recovers, Nathan reviews his time in India to figure out how Perla fits in. On learning her unusual story, Nathan must face death and prove he has a will to live.

Contains graphic depictions of violence