Raj Quartet S.

4 primary works

Jewel in the Crown

by Paul Scott

Published July 1966

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NOW A BBC RADIO 4 EXTRA DRAMATISATION STARRING ANNA MAXWELL MARTIN AND PRASANNA PUWANARAJAH
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BOOK ONE OF THE RAJ QUARTET

India 1942: everything is in flux. World War II has shown that the British are not invincible and the self-rule lobby is gaining many supporters. Against this background, Daphne Manners, a young English girl, is brutally raped in the Bibighat Gardens. The racism, brutality and hatred launched upon the head of her young Indian lover echo the dreadful violence perpetrated on Daphne and reveal the desperate state of Anglo-Indian relations.

The rift that will eventually prise India - the jewel in the Imperial Crown - from colonial rule is beginning to gape wide.
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'A major work, a glittering combination of brilliant craftsmanship, psychological perception and objective reporting... Rarely have the sounds and smells and total atmosphere been so evocatively suggested' - New York Times

'Absorbing and brilliant... A triumph' - Evening Standard

'One of the most important landmarks of post-war fiction... A mighty literary experience' - The Times

'Quite simply, monumental' - Washington Post

Day of the Scorpion

by Paul Scott

Published September 1968

In The Day of the Scorpion, Scott draws us deeper in to his epic of India at the close of World War II. With force and subtlety, he recreates both private ambition and perversity, and the politics of an entire subcontinent at a turning point in history.

As the scorpian, encircled by a ring of fire, will sting itself to death, so does the British raj hasten its own destruction when threatened by the flames of Indian independence. Brutal repression and imprisonment of India's leaders cannot still the cry for home rule. And in the midst of chaos, the English Laytons withdraw from a world they no longer know to seek solace in denial, drink, and madness.

Towers of Silence

by Paul Scott

Published October 1971

India, 1943: In a regimental hill station, the ladies of Pankot struggle to preserve the genteel facade of British society amid the debris of a vanishing empire and World War II. A retired missionary, Barbara Batchelor, bears witness to the connections between many human dramas; the love between Daphne Manner and Hari Kumar; the desperate grief an old teacher feels for an India she cannot rescue; and the cruelty of Captain Ronald Merrick, Susan Layton's future husband.

Division of the Spoils

by Paul Scott

Published 5 May 1975

The final novel of a quartet which began with The Jewel in the Crown. As the British presence in India moves into its last days, the fall of the Enpire signals the end of an era, and a new beginning. For the Hindus and Muslims, the political reality signals inevitable post-war recriminations.