The Raj Quartet - Vol 2

The Raj Quartet Volume 2 contains The Towers of Silence and A Division of Spoils 
 
The Towers of Silence ~ 
India, 1943: In a regimental hill station, the ladies of Pankot struggle to preserve the genteel façade 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. 
 
The Division of Spoils ~ 
The fourth and final title is a moving conclusion to The Raj Quartet. As the British presence moves inexorably into its last days, the fall of the Empire signals the end of an era, and a new beginning. For the Hindus and Muslims, the political reality signals inevitable post-war recrimination and future territorial wrangles. And for the British - for the Laytons, Merrick and Guy Perron - the final partings are swallowed into the great upheaval.

Not many of E. M Forster's readers could have imagined then that his book's theme -- relations between Europeans and non-Europeans -- would soon become an acute human and literary concern. The topic has recurred often enough in fiction since then, but never, to my knowledge, has it been treated as brilliantly as it is in Paul Scott's novel, The Jewel in the Crown

Through the Layton family the changing spirit of the raj may be judged....From a work like this, all who care about fiction can take heart.

A monument eloquently expressive of affection and grief

Paul Scott (1920-1978) was born in North London, the second son of a struggling commercial artist and a mother who had burned her unpublished novels the night before her wedding. Scott's boyhood hobby of producing amateur films led him to invent dialogue - verbal images would always provide essential starting-points for his writing. Forced to leave school early and enter into a career in accountancy, he was unable to devote himself to writing until 1960. By then, he had found both his medium - the novel - and his main subject matter - India. He had been posted in India during the war, and his fascination with it never waned. 
Scott is mainly known today for his four inter-related novels about the events leading up to the end of the British Raj. These were published in a one-volume edition in 1976, as The Raj Quartet. In the same year, he published their coda, Staying On, and this was awarded the Booker Prize in the following year. By then, however, he was suffering from cancer, and too ill to attend the prize-giving ceremony. He died in 1978, leaving a wife and two daughters.

Paul Scott's epic study of British India in its final years has no equal. Tolstoyan in scope and Proustian in detail but completely individual in effect, it records the encounter between East and West through the experiences of a dozen people caught up in the upheavals of the Second World War and the growing campaign for Indian independence. Book one, The Jewel in the Crown, describes the doomed love between an English girl and an Indian boy, Daphne Manners and Hari Kumar. This affair touches the lives of other characters in three subsequent books, most of them unknown to Hari and Daphne but involved in the larger social and political conflicts which destroy the lovers. 
On occasions unsparing in its study of personal dramas and racial differences, the Raj Quartet is at all times profoundly humane, not least in the author's capacity to identify with a huge range of characters. It is also illuminated by delicate social comedy and wonderful evocations of the Indian scene, all narrated in luminous prose.

The Towers Of Silence

The third title in Paul Scott's masterpiece, The Raj Quartet, dramatised by Radio 4

Paul Scott was born in London in 1920. He served in the army from 1940 to 1946, mainly in India and Malaya. He is the author of thirteen distinguished novels including his famous The Raj Quartet. In 1977, Staying On won the Booker Prize. Paul Scott died in 1978.

It is the last, bitter days of World War II and the British Raj in India is crumbling. Ensconced in the Indian Hill Station of Pankot are the English wives, mothers, daughters and widows of the officers embroiled in the ongoing conflict. With their old beliefs and assumptions under increasingly virulent attack, all eyes are upon Captain Merrick and the British military to protect them in this troubled time. But Merrick, though outwardly a consummate professional, is brutal and corrupt, and not even his machinations can stop the change that is swiftly and inevitably approaching, change which is increasingly undermining the old myth of British invincibility...

The Jewel In The Crown

The opening title of Paul Scott's masterpiece, The Raj Quartet, dramatised by Radio 4

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

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

Paul Scott was born in London in 1920. He served in the army from 1940 to 1946, mainly in India and Malaya. He is the author of thirteen distinguished novels including his famous The Raj Quartet. In 1977, Staying On won the Booker Prize. Paul Scott died in 1978.

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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

Staying On

From the author of the Raj Quartet - dramatised for Radio Four The winner of the Booker Prize 'A rich and joyful book' - Sunday Times

Staying On covers only a few months but it carries the emotional impact of a lifetime, even a civilisation

Certainly his funniest and, I think, his best. it is a first-class book and deserves to be remembered for a long time

One of the most cherished books of the last quarter-century. It is good to re-read it for its humour and pathos as well as its wonderful description of the legacy of the Raj

Tusker and Lily Smalley stayed on in India. Given the chance to return 'home' when Tusker, once a Colonel in the British Army, retired, they chose instead to remain in the small hill town of Pangkot, with its eccentric inhabitants and archaic rituals left over from the days of the Empire. Only the tyranny of their landlady, the imposing Mrs Bhoolabhoy, threatens to upset the quiet rhythm of their days. 
 
Both funny and deeply moving, Staying On is a unique, engrossing portrait of the end of an empire and of a forty-year love affair.

The Day Of The Scorpion

The second title in Paul Scott's masterpiece, The Raj Quartet - dramatised for Radio 4

An achievement of unusual dimensions and power

I can't think of anything worth knowing about the Raj in India that Scott hasn't told me... His contribution to literature is permanent

Beautifully constructed... An even richer tapestry of Indian and British character than its predecessor

BOOK TWO OF THE RAJ QUARTET 
 
India, August 9th 1942. The morning brings raids and the arrest by British police of Congress Party members. Amongst the prisoners is the distinguished ex-Chief Minister Mohammed Ali Kasim. Loyal to the party's central vision of a unified free India, his incarceration is a symptom of the growing deterioration of Anglo-Indian relations. 
 
For the long-serving British family, the Laytons, the political and social ramifications are immediate, disturbing and tragic. Some, like Ronald Merrick, believe that true intimacy between the races is impossible; others, such as Sarah Layton, struggle to come to terms with their Anglo-Indian past. With growing confusion and bewilderment, the British are forced to confront the violent and often brutal years that lie ahead of them.

A Division Of The Spoils

The Fourth and final title is a moving and fitting conclusion to Paul Scott's masterpiece, The Raj Quartet, dramatised for Radio 4

Its two great and time-resting virtues are, first, the extraordinary range of characters it so skilfully portrays and, second, its powerful evocation of the last days of British India

BOOK FOUR OF THE RAJ QUARTET 
 
The British Raj in India is in its final days. But the fall of the Empire is both the end of one era and the beginning of another. For the Hindus and Muslims, the political reality signals inevitable post-war recriminations and future territorial wrangles. For Guy Perron, Field Sergeant and historian, these last days are a time to reflect on the legacy the British has left behind in India. And for the British families still residing in India, decisions about their future must be made and final goodbyes must be said, all against the backdrop of one of the most turbulent periods of social change the world has ever seen.

Paul Scott

The Raj Quartet - Vol 1

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