Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- In 1857, Indians rose in rebellion against the British occupation. Julian Rathbone re-enacts that squalidly brutal conflict of 150 years ago in ``The Mutiny,'' a novel that meticulously explores the causes and consequences of what many Indians call the First War of Independence.

The story opens in 1853, as Sophie Hardcastle, an 18-year- old English rose, adjusts to life on the subcontinent, where her husband works as a lawyer for the British East India Company.

While Sophie negotiates stuffy colonial society and gives birth to her first child, a parallel narrative charts growing resentment among the natives, introducing historical figures including the rebel supporter Azimullah Khan and Ranee of Jhansi, who became known as India's Joan of Arc. Other real-life characters include the author's great-grandfather, a Liverpudlian businessman and philanthropist.

The two narratives merge in May 1857, as the unrest spills into Sophie's privileged world. In the mayhem that ensues, she becomes separated from her infant son and his Indian nanny.

Rathbone captures the chaos all too accurately: The main characters are soon engulfed in a crowd of walk-ons who meet grisly ends within a page or so of their introduction. Narrative focus dies with them. As the body count rises, so does swashbuckling heroism and bleak humor.

``This all should be fun,'' an officer declares while riding into battle with a captain whose wife and children have been murdered. ``Shake you out of the doldrums.''

Though Rathbone successfully animates the complex religious and political background, his novel lacks an emotional core. ``The Mutiny'' is from Little, Brown (447 pages, 16.99 pounds).

`Skylark Farm'

Antonia Arslan draws on her own family history in her first novel, ``Skylark Farm,'' a powerful account of the estimated 1.5 million Armenians slaughtered during World War I.

The story centers on two brothers, Yerwant and Sempad. Yerwant, the eldest, is just 13 when he leaves Turkey and his hated stepmother to study at an Armenian boarding school in Venice. He later trains as a doctor, marrying a local woman and raising his sons as Italians. Sempad stays behind, becoming a respected pharmacist and fathering a brood of his own.

After 40 years abroad, Yerwant is finally set to return to Skylark Farm, their ancestral home in the Anatolian hills, in 1915. His departure is days away when Italy enters World War I and seals its borders. Sempad, overjoyed at his brother's imminent visit, fails to heed warning signs, including rumored disappearances within Constantinople's Armenian community.

Tragedy overshadows this novel from the start, tinting scenes of simple contentment with poignancy long before men and boys are heaved into mass graves and women and girls are raped, rounded up and driven on a death march across the Syrian desert.

In the end, four of Sempad's children escape to join Yerwant in Italy, tempering the story with transforming heroism. Translated from Italian with impressive subtlety by Geoffrey Brock, ``Skylark Farm'' is from Knopf (275 pages, $23.95).

`Measuring Time'

Helon Habila's award-winning first book of fiction, ``Waiting for an Angel,'' reads like a collection of interconnected stories set in his native Nigeria. His second, ``Measuring Time,'' is a full-blown novel about twin Nigerian boys, Mamo and LaMamo, whose mother dies during their birth.

Growing up in the village of Keti, the twins learn to despise their wealthy, domineering father long before they learn of his philandering ways. By the time they reach their teens, they're plotting to escape, though only LaMamo makes it, running away to seek fame and riches as a soldier.

War Mail

Mamo, who has inherited their mother's sickle cell disease, stays home and turns to books for solace. He eventually becomes the local school's history teacher, falling in love and finding unexpected celebrity by trying to write a ``true'' history of his people. Year after year, letters from LaMamo arrive from conflicts across the continent, in Mali, Liberia, Guinea.

Both brothers encounter corruption and scrutinize their own consciences. Then, as drought and religious violence strike Keti, LaMamo returns, with grim consequences.

Throughout this memorable novel, tradition and modernity, loyalty and liberation tussle. In its final chapters, Habila dares to hope for a better future, capping a majestic feat.

``Measuring Time'' is published by Norton in the U.S. and Hamish Hamilton in the U.K. (383 pages, $13.95, 16.99).

(Hephzibah Anderson is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of this review: Hephzibah Anderson at Hephzibah_anderson@hotmail.com.

Last Updated: January 26, 2007 00:14 EST