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The Raj Quartet #1-2
The Raj Quartet 1: The Jewel in the Crown/The Day of the Scorpion
The Raj Quartet, 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 from Britain.
The first novel, 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 volumes, most of them unknown to Hari and Daphne but involved in the larger social and political conflicts which destroy the lovers. In The Day of the Scorpion, Ronald Merrick, a sadistic policeman who arrested and prosecuted Hari, insinuates himself into an aristocratic British family as World War II escalates.
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 other two novels in the Raj Quartet, The Towers of Silence and A Division of the Spoils, are also available from Everyman’s Library. With a new introduction by Hilary Spurling
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
The first novel, 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 volumes, most of them unknown to Hari and Daphne but involved in the larger social and political conflicts which destroy the lovers. In The Day of the Scorpion, Ronald Merrick, a sadistic policeman who arrested and prosecuted Hari, insinuates himself into an aristocratic British family as World War II escalates.
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 other two novels in the Raj Quartet, The Towers of Silence and A Division of the Spoils, are also available from Everyman’s Library. With a new introduction by Hilary Spurling
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
1032 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
17 people are currently reading
698 people want to read
About the author
Paul Scott
173 books165 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Paul Mark Scott was an English novelist best known for his tetralogy The Raj Quartet. In the last years of his life, his novel Staying On won the Booker Prize (1977). The series of books was dramatised by Granada Television during the 1980s and won Scott the public and critical acclaim that he had not received during his lifetime.
Born in suburban London, Scott was posted to India, Burma and Malaya during World War II. On return to London he worked as a notable literary agent, before deciding to write full time from 1960. In 1964 he returned to India for a research trip, though he was struggling with ill health and alcoholism. From the material gathered he created the novels that would become The Raj Quartet. In the final years of his life he accepted a visiting professorship at the University of Tulsa, where much of his private archive is held.
Paul Mark Scott was an English novelist best known for his tetralogy The Raj Quartet. In the last years of his life, his novel Staying On won the Booker Prize (1977). The series of books was dramatised by Granada Television during the 1980s and won Scott the public and critical acclaim that he had not received during his lifetime.
Born in suburban London, Scott was posted to India, Burma and Malaya during World War II. On return to London he worked as a notable literary agent, before deciding to write full time from 1960. In 1964 he returned to India for a research trip, though he was struggling with ill health and alcoholism. From the material gathered he created the novels that would become The Raj Quartet. In the final years of his life he accepted a visiting professorship at the University of Tulsa, where much of his private archive is held.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 14, 2022
The 2022 read of the Raj Quartet has been a reread, a year after my original read in 2021. For some odd reason, Goodreads edits and alters one's end read date on the original read. Some of us reread. And this one deserves that, every single bit of it.
Original review 2021
"Unfortunately...we have only one life to live and we are granted only one notion of what makes it worth living. It isn't easy to write that notion off as mistaken or the life we live in pursuit of it as wasted."
__Paul Scott as 'Kasim' to his son
in "The Day of the Scorpion"
Brilliant writing, finely wrought characters, a masterpiece of enormous depth. So very grateful that I had read Guha's nonfiction "Gandhi" first and... delighted that there remains another volume of the same length to follow in "The Raj Quartet".
Original review 2021
"Unfortunately...we have only one life to live and we are granted only one notion of what makes it worth living. It isn't easy to write that notion off as mistaken or the life we live in pursuit of it as wasted."
__Paul Scott as 'Kasim' to his son
in "The Day of the Scorpion"
Brilliant writing, finely wrought characters, a masterpiece of enormous depth. So very grateful that I had read Guha's nonfiction "Gandhi" first and... delighted that there remains another volume of the same length to follow in "The Raj Quartet".
June 25, 2011
There is nothing quite like Paul Scott's the Raj Quartet. I first started reading because of a love of the miniseries, the Jewel in the Crown, but discovered the quartet. There is no book series that quite captures the last days of the British Occupation, and you fall in love with the country, time period, and place. The romance between Guy Perron and Sarah Layton is simmering, and the mystery of the affair in the Bibighar gardens continues throughout the entire series. There is no villan in literature quite like Ronald Merrick. Just a warning: the book series is long, and the print is tiny. But if you take the time to read and enjoy the series, you'll discover a literary and cultural treat.
October 2, 2009
Highly recommended for those interested in the British occupation of India and its aftermath. (Those not explicitly interested should probably turn to others, such as Rushdie or Mistry, or even Seth.) About 200 pages of this book were 5-star plus. The other 300? Kind of a slog if you're not a big fat nerd about the politics. I happen to be that kind of big fat nerd. And this was good, and now I'm only looking forward to finishing all four volumes.
Finally, Lili and Daphne are the most affecting characters in Raj fiction, ever. (Daphne is, to me, a precursor to _The God of Small Things_'s Ammu.)
Finally, Lili and Daphne are the most affecting characters in Raj fiction, ever. (Daphne is, to me, a precursor to _The God of Small Things_'s Ammu.)
June 22, 2014
Book a bit long. But good narrative of imperial India. In line w Passage to india but Scott's book more psychologically penetrating. Scott also tries to cover more of the complexities of english occupation and include the creation of pakistan
July 18, 2020
Listening to the 2005 version dramatised for Radio 4 with a superb cast.
This is horrifying, gut-wrenching, brilliant stuff - drama doesn't get much better than Paul Scott. I think I read it many years ago, but it still shakes me to the core to hear or read about this time in India. Everyone needs to know. We can't go back in time to change anything, we can simply learn...
This is horrifying, gut-wrenching, brilliant stuff - drama doesn't get much better than Paul Scott. I think I read it many years ago, but it still shakes me to the core to hear or read about this time in India. Everyone needs to know. We can't go back in time to change anything, we can simply learn...
January 12, 2013
The basis for the superb mini-series The Jewel In The Crown. Scott is a wonderful, delicate writer who served in India & came back to write about it in a fine tetralogy about the Raj. Hari Kumar (or Harry Coomer, as he's called in England) is a tragic figure: caught between his British upbringing & his abrupt landing in India, a land utterly foreign to him. Structurally brilliant, I highly recommend to anyone with an interest in what happened prior to Indian Independence. A true tour de force!
Read
September 21, 2008You can read the synopsis to see what it's about. I will just tell you that the Raj Quartet is a marvel, and Paul Scott is the single greatest author you've never heard of.
- Chris C.
- Chris C.
July 29, 2011
This is an impossibly long book about India during the time of colonial rule, that once I was through the four books I was so sorry to see end :-(
May 30, 2019
Both books 4 stars
October 12, 2020
No, it didn't take me three months to read this. I read The Jewel in the Crown in July, then put it aside, read a bunch of other stuff, and picked it up again two weeks or so ago to read The Day of the Scorpion. I'm not gonna lie (and if you know me, you won't be surprised): I barely remembered what happened in TJITC, so I had to Wikipedia it when I started TDOTS.
A little Indian colonialism melodrama is straight up my alley, so this massive undertaking, four novels set in the years just before Indian independence, satisfied, mostly. Jewel has forbidden romance, rape, spinsters, busybodies, and more. I had a harder time getting into Scorpion; the two sisters were hard for me to distinguish for I'd say the first third of the book. Is it Susan who married Teddie, or is it Sarah? Which one is the older one, and which one is the one who always gets thrown over for the other? But when Hari Kumar, a key player in the first novel, shows up in the second, I sat up and took notice.
Long chapters, and a little too much politics over soap opera, made the second book slower than the first. By the time I read volumes three and four, I'm guessing I'll have to go back to Wikipedia.
A little Indian colonialism melodrama is straight up my alley, so this massive undertaking, four novels set in the years just before Indian independence, satisfied, mostly. Jewel has forbidden romance, rape, spinsters, busybodies, and more. I had a harder time getting into Scorpion; the two sisters were hard for me to distinguish for I'd say the first third of the book. Is it Susan who married Teddie, or is it Sarah? Which one is the older one, and which one is the one who always gets thrown over for the other? But when Hari Kumar, a key player in the first novel, shows up in the second, I sat up and took notice.
Long chapters, and a little too much politics over soap opera, made the second book slower than the first. By the time I read volumes three and four, I'm guessing I'll have to go back to Wikipedia.
May 9, 2025
I'm a historian really. The present does not interest me. The future even less.
A masterful blend of complex story writing, compelling characters that sets the stage of what it was like in the final days of British Occupation of India—dawn of the Raj.
Paul Scott dwells into the world of countless unknown, unrepresented, insignificant members of the Raj in his brilliant prose.
A profound sense of racial differences and discrimination that was subtle and well acknowledged.
Particularly the tragic story of Hari Kumar that struck my heart, a westernized Indian person who's ambitious father devoted his life for his son's best interest, to provide the best English education that money could buy and yet Hari couldn't escape his fate—his very fate to return back to the land that was just as foreign to him as any Englishman.
It was the doomed love affair of Hari Kumar and Dahpne Manners and the subsequent set of events which remained a significant part of the plot carried forward from The Jewel in the Crown to The Day of the Scorpion.
April 23, 2019
This was everything I had wanted it to be, and then some more.
May 19, 2021
Liked it enough to order the next two books in the series.
January 27, 2018
Now an army captain, Ronald Merrick, a self-made man of the lower middle class and the former police official in charge of the Daphne Manners case, begins to insinuate himself subtly into the Layton family. We learn what the Laytons do not know, that in a searing session with the incarcerated Hari Kumar, Merrick tortured and molested him.
Susan, the younger Layton sister, driven by a sense of her own nothingness, marries Teddie Bingham, a colorless and conventional officer in the prestigious Pankot Rifles regiment. By accident, Teddie and Merrick are roommates, and when his designated best man falls ill at the last minute, Teddie asks Merrick to act as best man. The wedding is held in Mirat, a native state ruled by a Nawab. On the way to the wedding ceremony, someone throws a stone at the car in which Teddie and Merrick are riding. Teddie is injured and has to be patched up. At the wedding reception, the Nawab of Mirat becomes a victim of heightened security when he is denied entrance to his own property as he is an Indian. When the newlyweds are being seen off at the railway station, Shalini Gupta Sen appears and makes a scene, beseeching Merrick. She is later revealed to be begging Merrick to reveal the whereabouts of her nephew, Hari Kumar.
Nigel Rowan, an officer serving in the civil service, takes Lady Manners to observe the debriefing of Hari Kumar, who was tortured and jailed after the rape of Lady Manners's niece, Daphne, and who has been held in prison for a year under the Defence of India Act for vague alleged political crimes. The panel, consisting of Rowan and V. R. Gopal, is horrified to learn of Hari's treatment at Merrick's hands. It comes out that Hari has never been informed that Daphne conceived a child and then died. The questioners realize that Hari's statements will be too inflammatory in the fragile political climate of India. They also realize that Hari is innocent, however, and suspect that at some point in the future, he will be quietly released from custody.
Teddie and Merrick are sent to the front in Manipur against the Japanese and their surrogates, the Indian National Army (known as "Jiffs" among the British). Teddie, against Merrick's warnings, falls victim to an INA ambush while trying to induce INA soldiers from his regiment to surrender. Merrick does his best to save Teddie, but is unsuccessful, and comes away horribly disfigured. Teddie goes forward, it is implied, because he is concerned about the methods Merrick might employ on the turncoats.
Sarah Layton, the older sister, comes to the fore as the morally fine-tuned mainstay of the family. To show the family's gratitude for his efforts, Sarah visits Merrick in Calcutta, where he is convalescing at an Army hospital. Merrick explains to her why he believes himself partly responsible for Teddie's fate. She is horrified by his disfigurement and learns that much of Merrick's left arm is to be amputated.
While in Calcutta, Sarah is staying with Aunt Fenny, who is eager to get Sarah matched up with a young man. She gets her husband, Uncle Arthur, to bring several of his junior officers over for dinner. In particular, she is enthusiastic about introducing Sarah to Jimmy Clark. After an unsuccessful evening on the town, Clark takes Sarah to the Indian side of Calcutta, where they attend a fancy party at the home of a wealthy socialite. There, Clark seduces Sarah by challenging her to taste life.
On her way back to Pankot, Sarah encounters Count Bronowsky, a White Russian emigre who is the Nawab's wazir or chief advisor, whom she had met during Susan and Teddie's wedding. With him is Nigel Rowan. They are there to meet Mohammed Ali Kasim, a prominent politician who is being released after a period of imprisonment under the Defence of India Act. Kasim learns from his younger son, Ahmed, that his elder son, Sayed, an officer in the Indian Army, has become turncoat and joined the INA and now faces charges of treason.
Barbie Batchelor, the friend and paying guest of Mabel Layton discovered the secret of the enmity between Mabel and Mildred one night when both the elderly women are unable to sleep. Mabel also tells Barbie she will never go to Ranpur again until after she's buried, which Barbie interprets to mean that she wishes be buried next to the grave of her late husband, James Layton, in Ranpur.
Susan Bingham, Teddie's newlywed and pregnant bride, is unhinged when having received news of Teddie's death she witnesses her aunt Mabel's death. As it is, Susan depends on others to define her role and character. Without Teddie to serve as the anchor for her identity, Susan is lost and afraid to be responsible for a fatherless child. Coming unhinged, she makes a ring of fire with paraffin and places the baby with it, in imitation of a native treatment of scorpions which she witnessed as a child. The baby is rescued unharmed by its nurse.
Susan, the younger Layton sister, driven by a sense of her own nothingness, marries Teddie Bingham, a colorless and conventional officer in the prestigious Pankot Rifles regiment. By accident, Teddie and Merrick are roommates, and when his designated best man falls ill at the last minute, Teddie asks Merrick to act as best man. The wedding is held in Mirat, a native state ruled by a Nawab. On the way to the wedding ceremony, someone throws a stone at the car in which Teddie and Merrick are riding. Teddie is injured and has to be patched up. At the wedding reception, the Nawab of Mirat becomes a victim of heightened security when he is denied entrance to his own property as he is an Indian. When the newlyweds are being seen off at the railway station, Shalini Gupta Sen appears and makes a scene, beseeching Merrick. She is later revealed to be begging Merrick to reveal the whereabouts of her nephew, Hari Kumar.
Nigel Rowan, an officer serving in the civil service, takes Lady Manners to observe the debriefing of Hari Kumar, who was tortured and jailed after the rape of Lady Manners's niece, Daphne, and who has been held in prison for a year under the Defence of India Act for vague alleged political crimes. The panel, consisting of Rowan and V. R. Gopal, is horrified to learn of Hari's treatment at Merrick's hands. It comes out that Hari has never been informed that Daphne conceived a child and then died. The questioners realize that Hari's statements will be too inflammatory in the fragile political climate of India. They also realize that Hari is innocent, however, and suspect that at some point in the future, he will be quietly released from custody.
Teddie and Merrick are sent to the front in Manipur against the Japanese and their surrogates, the Indian National Army (known as "Jiffs" among the British). Teddie, against Merrick's warnings, falls victim to an INA ambush while trying to induce INA soldiers from his regiment to surrender. Merrick does his best to save Teddie, but is unsuccessful, and comes away horribly disfigured. Teddie goes forward, it is implied, because he is concerned about the methods Merrick might employ on the turncoats.
Sarah Layton, the older sister, comes to the fore as the morally fine-tuned mainstay of the family. To show the family's gratitude for his efforts, Sarah visits Merrick in Calcutta, where he is convalescing at an Army hospital. Merrick explains to her why he believes himself partly responsible for Teddie's fate. She is horrified by his disfigurement and learns that much of Merrick's left arm is to be amputated.
While in Calcutta, Sarah is staying with Aunt Fenny, who is eager to get Sarah matched up with a young man. She gets her husband, Uncle Arthur, to bring several of his junior officers over for dinner. In particular, she is enthusiastic about introducing Sarah to Jimmy Clark. After an unsuccessful evening on the town, Clark takes Sarah to the Indian side of Calcutta, where they attend a fancy party at the home of a wealthy socialite. There, Clark seduces Sarah by challenging her to taste life.
On her way back to Pankot, Sarah encounters Count Bronowsky, a White Russian emigre who is the Nawab's wazir or chief advisor, whom she had met during Susan and Teddie's wedding. With him is Nigel Rowan. They are there to meet Mohammed Ali Kasim, a prominent politician who is being released after a period of imprisonment under the Defence of India Act. Kasim learns from his younger son, Ahmed, that his elder son, Sayed, an officer in the Indian Army, has become turncoat and joined the INA and now faces charges of treason.
Barbie Batchelor, the friend and paying guest of Mabel Layton discovered the secret of the enmity between Mabel and Mildred one night when both the elderly women are unable to sleep. Mabel also tells Barbie she will never go to Ranpur again until after she's buried, which Barbie interprets to mean that she wishes be buried next to the grave of her late husband, James Layton, in Ranpur.
Susan Bingham, Teddie's newlywed and pregnant bride, is unhinged when having received news of Teddie's death she witnesses her aunt Mabel's death. As it is, Susan depends on others to define her role and character. Without Teddie to serve as the anchor for her identity, Susan is lost and afraid to be responsible for a fatherless child. Coming unhinged, she makes a ring of fire with paraffin and places the baby with it, in imitation of a native treatment of scorpions which she witnessed as a child. The baby is rescued unharmed by its nurse.
August 8, 2012
I tried! I really did!
Why didn't I like this book? The subject matter is exactly my sort of thing to read. I can't put my finger on why I stopped at page 50. Maybe there wasn't enough action in the plot for my taste. There are lengthy descriptions of locales that also tend to wear me out. But...I will put up with both of these things in a book that is holding my interest.
This book didn't hold my interest for an unknown reason. That's where I'm leaving it.
Why didn't I like this book? The subject matter is exactly my sort of thing to read. I can't put my finger on why I stopped at page 50. Maybe there wasn't enough action in the plot for my taste. There are lengthy descriptions of locales that also tend to wear me out. But...I will put up with both of these things in a book that is holding my interest.
This book didn't hold my interest for an unknown reason. That's where I'm leaving it.
August 24, 2012
This is a book I have picked up and failed to get through at least half a dozen times. And this summer I failed again. I took it with me on a bike trip hoping that as my only reading material, I would finally make it through and discover why so many people seem to like it. After eight nights, I gave up and left it behind in my motel... Maybe it's next owner will appreciate it; I never connected with any of the main characters or the plot...
Want to read
November 12, 2009From this volume, I found later there were two defective sheets (right corner, pp. vii-x) due to publication technique. I'm not sure if I can request a substitution copy like the Penguin hardcover (The Canterberry Tales) from the UK some few months ago. I think I should inform Alfred A. Knopf and see what they can do.
April 30, 2012
Impossibly beautiful, tragic, urgent, moving, ecstatic, its frustrating bits of war reportage and historical minutiae included. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING on the British in India comes even close - hell, who cares about the British in India, this is about the human condition as a whole, and very little comes close there too.
January 17, 2016
This was my second read or The Raj Quartet and Staying On. There are parts of the books that always remain with you. I particularly appreciate the unique way Mr Scott revisited plot lies through the eyes of different characters and through the lens of the passage of time. It was a fascinating era of history and Mr Scott allows you to live it.
July 28, 2013
I came to these through the BBC Jewel in the Crown Series. I loved all of these books and they led to my fascination for novels depicting Indian life, history, customs, etc. I cannot believe very few have ever even heard of Paul Scott! These novels describe the British Raj's occupation of India and the complications of mixing cultures in a superb way. My all time favorite book.
January 18, 2008
This is a tremendous set of books. It centers around different characters reaction to a single event, the characters being diverse in age, gender, race and attitude and completely believably human.
I loved the meticulously detailed description of the physical landscape of India, too.
I loved the meticulously detailed description of the physical landscape of India, too.
September 30, 2012
I loved all the books of the Raj Quartet! I came to them after watching the BBC mini-series of the same name, and it was so fascinating, I just had to read the books. Within the first paragraph is one of the most memorable lines I've encountered in prose. Look for it.
May 26, 2011
Among my favorties
October 21, 2015
I'm marking this as "done" because I finished the first book. Will have to check it out again when I get back to read Book 2
Read
January 29, 2016Read this awhile ago. Since we traveled to India I am interested in anything related to the country.
October 11, 2013
brilliant book!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews