Book excerpt: When Dhondu Pant Nana Saheb, the adopted son of exiled Maratha Peshwa Bajirao II, is denied rights as the Peshwa's heir by the British after his father's death, he makes an appeal to reclaim his title, only to be rebuffed again. Then, as a mutiny breaks out in Kanpur in 1857 and Nana Saheb emerges as its leader, he is labelled by the British as a villainous monster, a barbarous butcher and the criminal leader of the 'Sepoy Mutiny', which sweeps across India from 1856 to 1859. Yet, to a nation in turmoil, he becomes a hero who stands up to the colonial oppression and emerges as a forerunner to the leaders who bring freedom to the nation less than a century later. In The Devil's Wind, Nana Saheb's story-a significant, turbulent and intrigue-filled chapter in India's history-is skilfully brought to life by master storyteller Manohar Malgonkar in vivid, inventive detail.