A Most Civilised Disaster (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798198642454)

At the far edge of Empire, somewhere between dignity and disaster, sits Fort Harrow.

Founded by mistake and preserved through stubbornness, the crumbling colonial outpost is home to a collection of men and women who probably should never have been entrusted with authority. Major Bellweather dreams of glory and fountains. Percival Flint, the fort's permanently exhausted quartermaster, spends his days preventing civilisation from collapsing entirely. Doctor Lurgy treats medicine as an exciting rumour. Corporal Briggs believes every problem can be solved with discipline, artillery, or a goat. Meanwhile, the mysterious trader Li Wei Harrow quietly profits from all of them.

Across twelve riotously funny stories, Fort Harrow survives inspections, cricket matches, cobras, missing treasure, floods, governors, artillery accidents, and enough bureaucracy to strangle an empire twice over.

As railways creep across colonial India and the machinery of Empire grinds ever louder, Fort Harrow somehow becomes important - a deeply unfortunate development for everyone involved.

Packed with razor-sharp dialogue, escalating chaos, dry wit, and characters who fail upward with remarkable consistency, A Most Civilised Disaster is a hilarious tale of imperial incompetence, reluctant loyalty, and survival by administrative panic.

Because sometimes the Empire's greatest achievement is remaining standing until teatime.