The Leopard and the Cliff

The Leopard and the Cliff has been out of print for a long time with second-hand copies being elusive; nonetheless it has a grim resonance with today demonstrating the futility of fighting in that part of the world.'Wallace Breem is a writer who never disappoints one. He has an extraordinary power of treating military disaster in depth and yet with pace, whether on the frontiers of Rome or British India, and of analysing the tensions of command. Gripping as an action story, deeply moving on the individual level, it involves one as an eye-witness from beginning to end.' Mary Renault'I found the book gripping. I am not a Frontier man but the account of the tribal situation on the Frontier and of the atmosphere accords with all I have read or heard about it. The author brings out movingly and with skill several points of vital importance to an understanding of British India and the Frontier in particular. Everything depended on India (in this case Pathan) co-operation; this broke down once the British showed lack of confidence and began to retire. The clash of loyalties which then arose was highly dramatic and painful for those involved. The loneliness of such a man as Sandeman is also brought out with skill.' Philip Mason, author of A Matter of Honour: An Account of the Indian Army, Its Officers and Men