It's 1938 and the world is changing quickly. Hitler is stirring the German nation into a xenophobic frenzy. Michael, a British officer in the Gurkhas serving in the North-West Frontier, is trying to keep the bloodthirsty and ruthless Afghan tribesmen, the Pathan, under control. The horrors perpetrated by the Pathan make Michael angry and vengeful.

On leave in England, Michael finds that his war experiences have changed him and made him intolerant of the conventionality of British society. He begins to see his fiancée, Sarah, in a different light. On his return to India he seems to be heading for disaster...

Julia Scott was born in Weymouth, Dorset. She attended Winchester School for Girls and gained a degree in French from Liverpool University. Her early working career was spent as a health journalist, and later as Editor of Director magazine for the Institute of Directors.

In 1987 she married a neurologist and together they moved to Malta, and then to the United States where they lived for fifteen years before returning to England in 2005.

In 2001 Julia was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and wrote Afghan Silk while fighting the disease and looking after her six children. She died aged 49 in 2006.