During the summer of 1839, Queen Victoria heard of a soon-to-be-published novel, which was going to expose a gruesome aspect of her Indian dominions. Intrigued, she summoned Richard Bentley and demanded to see page proofs. Duly delivered to the Queen were the first chapters of a compelling account of ritual murder committed by a thrilling, dark-eyed strangler named Ameer Ali, a character said-to-be based on a real criminal called Feringhea. Later that year, Confessions of a Thug, became the first best-selling Anglo-Indian novel. Interestingly, this work of literature is a part of history as it established the word "thug" in the English language. Confessions of a Thug (1839) is a remarkable novel that recounts the life of a thug named Ameer Ali. In the pour of a confession to a white 'sahib', the imprisoned Ameer Ali narrates his life as a devoted follower of Thuggee, a practice of murder and robbery performed in the name of a religious cult. This novel offers a strikingly vivid and thrilling experience written in a simple, straight forward English, which any reader of modern imaginative literature will have absolutely no trouble reading.
