Download or read book The Day of the Scorpion written by Paul Scott and published by Heinemann Educational Books. This book was released on 1968 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Continues the story of the last days British rule in India in the early 1940's.
Download or read book The Raj Quartet 2 written by Paul Scott and published by Everyman's Library. This book was released on 2007-07-03 with total page 1034 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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. In The Towers of Silence, Barbie Batchelor, a British missionary and schoolteacher, befriends a British family and witnesses the trial of Hari Kumar, an Indian man accused of assaulting his beloved Daphne Manners, while observing the dangerously cruel Captain Ronald Merrick, Hari’s nemesis. In A Division of the Spoils, the chaos of the departure of the British and the fervor of Partition wreaks havoc upon the twilight of the Raj — and the end of a era. 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 Jewel in the Crown and The Day of the Scorpion, are also available from Everyman’s Library. With a new introduction by Hilary Spurling
Download or read book The Day of the Scorpion written by Paul Scott and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-08-05 with total page 499 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Second in the epic quartet capturing life at the end of British rule in India, “an achievement of unusual dimensions and power” (The Observer (UK)). 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 scorpion, 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 during the chaos, the English Laytons withdraw from a world they no longer know to seek solace in denial, drink, and madness. Praise for The Day of the Scorpion “Classical and complex in structure, with a mystery at its center.” —P. Albert Duhamel, New York Times Book Review “[A] rich, elaborately terraced novel. . . . [Scott’s] view of the crippling illusionary quests of men and nations, his ability to recreate a culture and a time, continue to mark him as a novelist of importance.” —Kirkus Reviews “An even richer tapestry of Indian and British character than its predecessor, with greater wealth and variety of incident. . . . [A] ramifying and exciting but beautifully constructed novel.” —London Sunday Times (UK) “Outstanding. . . . [Mr. Scott is] a writer who has thoroughly mastered his material and who can . . . work through a maze of fascinating detail without for a moment losing sight of distant and considerable objectives.” —Times Literary Supplement (UK)
Download or read book Staying On written by Paul Scott and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-02-11 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this sequel to The Raj Quartet, Colonel Tusker and Lucy Smalley stay on in the hills of Pankot after Indian independence deprives them of their colonial status. Finally fed up with accommodating her husband, Lucy claims a degree of independence herself. Eloquent and hilarious, she and Tusker act out class tensions among the British of the Raj and give voice to the loneliness, rage, and stubborn affection in their marriage. Staying On won the Booker Prize in 1977 and was made into a motion picture starring Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson in 1979. "Staying On far transcends the events of its central action. . . . [The work] should help win for Scott . . . the reputation he deserves—as one of the best novelists to emerge from Britain's silver age."—Robert Towers, Newsweek "Scott's vision is both precise and painterly. Like an engraver cross-hatching in the illusion of fullness, he selects nuances that will make his characters take on depth and poignancy."—Jean G. Zorn, New York Times Book Review "A graceful comic coda to the earlier song of India. . . . No one writing knows or can evoke an Anglo-Indian setting better than Scott."—Paul Gray, Time "Staying On provides a sort of postscript to [Scott's] deservedly acclaimed The Raj Quartet. . . . He has, as it were, summoned up the Raj's ghost in Staying On. . . . It is the story of the living death, in retirement, and the final end of a walk-on character from the quartet. . . . Scott has completed the task of covering in the form of a fictional narrative the events leading up to India's partition and the achievement of independence in 1947. It is, on any showing, a creditable achievement."—Malcolm Muggeridge, New York Times Book Review
Download or read book The Jewel In The Crown written by Paul Scott and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-09-30 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ___________________ NOW A BBC RADIO 4 EXTRA DRAMATISATION STARRING ANNA MAXWELL MARTIN AND PRASANNA PUWANARAJAH ___________________ 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. ___________________ '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
Download or read book The Raj Quartet Volume 4 written by Paul Scott and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1998-05-22 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Against the backdrop of the violent partition of India and Pakistan, this volume sketches one last bittersweet romance, revealing the divided loyalties of the British as they flee, retreat from, or cling to India.
Download or read book The Raj Quartet written by Paul Scott and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book After Empire written by Michael Gorra and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In After Empire Michael Gorra explores how three novelists of empire—Paul Scott, V. S. Naipaul, and Salman Rushdie—have charted the perpetually drawn and perpetually blurred boundaries of identity left in the wake of British imperialism. Arguing against a model of cultural identity based on race, Gorra begins with Scott's portrait, in The Raj Quartet, of the character Hari Kumar—a seeming oxymoron, an "English boy with a dark brown skin," whose very existence undercuts the belief in an absolute distinction between England and India. He then turns to the opposed figures of Naipaul and Rushdie, the two great novelists of the Indian diaspora. Whereas Naipaul's long and controversial career maps the "deep disorder" spread by both imperialism and its passing, Rushdie demonstrates that certain consequences of that disorder, such as migrancy and mimicry, have themselves become creative forces. After Empire provides engaging and enlightening readings of postcolonial fiction, showing how imperialism helped shape British national identity—and how, after the end of empire, that identity must now be reconfigured.
Download or read book The Birds of Paradise written by Paul Scott and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-08-22 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of The Raj Quartet, a coming-of-age tale about a boy and his childhood friendships with a British diplomat’s daughter and the son of a Raj. The Birds of Paradise is set in India when the British Raj still seemed a paradise, but a paradise that boy comes to recognize as already lost. As Scott weaves together themes of political and personal history, he makes us feel how the protagonist identifies with the beautiful, mysterious India of the Raj. With a keen eye for character and graceful prose, Scott captures the reverie of a youth complete with parades of elephants, garden parties, and the titular birds of paradise, who are stuffed trophies of an Indian prince, kept as decoration in a gilded cage. When the boy is sent away to England, he experiences his exile as both the personal wound of abandonment and the foreshadowing of the Partition. Winner of the Booker Prize Praise for The Birds of Paradise “A rare literary bird, a novel that in a short space recreates a man’s lifetime. Using exotic backgrounds, it manages to say something useful about growing up—a process that only children believe takes place mainly in childhood.” —Time “Scott’s vision is both precise and painterly. Like an engraver crosshatching the illusion of fullness, he selects nuances that will make his characters take on depth and poignancy.” —Jean G. Zorn, New York Times Book Review “One of the best novelists to emerge from Britain’s silver age.” —Robert Towers, Newsweek “Far more even than E. M. Forester, in whose long literary shadow he has to work, Paull Scott is successful in exploring the provinces of the human heart.” —Life
Download or read book The Generals Wellington and Napoleon 2 written by Simon Scarrow and published by Review. This book was released on 2008-09-04 with total page 494 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE GENERALS is the compelling second novel in Simon Scarrow's bestselling Wellington and Napoleon quartet. A must read for fans of Bernard Cornwell. In the turbulent aftermath of the French Revolution Napoleon Bonaparte stands accused of treachery and corruption. His reputation is saved by his skill in leading his men to victory in Italy and Egypt. But then he must restore order in France and find peace or victory over her enemies: England - and Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington). Wellesley is leading a vast army in India, where British interests are under threat. The campaign will result in the creation of the Raj - the jewel in the British Empire's crown. Wellesley returns to England a hardened veteran and more determined than ever to end France's domination of Europe. Both Wellesley and Napoleon intend to win - whatever the cost. Who will ultimately succeed?
Download or read book The Far Pavilions written by M. M. Kaye and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2015-12-01 with total page 961 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This sweeping epic set in 19th-century India begins in the foothills of the towering Himalayas and follows a young Indian-born orphan as he's raised in England and later returns to India where he falls in love with an Indian princess and struggles with cultural divides. The Far Pavilions is itself a Himalayan achievement, a book we hate to see come to an end. It is a passionate, triumphant story that excites us, fills us with joy, move us to tears, satisfies us deeply, and helps us remember just what it is we want most from a novel. M.M. Kaye's masterwork is a vast, rich and vibrant tapestry of love and war that ranks with the greatest panoramic sagas of modern fiction, moving the famed literary critic Edmond Fuller to write: "Were Miss Kaye to produce no other book, The Far Pavilions might stand as a lasting accomplishment in a single work comparable to Margaret Mitchell's achievement in Gone With the Wind."
Download or read book The Towers of Silence written by Paul Scott and published by Harvill Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The towers of silence, the third volume in Paul Scott's Raj quartet, takes us to an Indian hill station in 1943. The ladies of Pankot struggle to preserve the genteel façade of British society amid the debris of a vanishing empire during World War II.
Download or read book East of the Sun written by Julia Gregson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-06-02 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From award winner Julia Gregson, author of Jasmine Nights, this sweeping international bestseller brilliantly captures the lives of three young women on their way to a new life in India during the 1920s. As the Kaisar-I-Hind weighs anchor for Bombay in the autumn of 1928, its passengers ponder their fate in a distant land. They are part of the “Fishing Fleet”—the name given to the legions of English women who sail to India each year in search of husbands, heedless of the life that awaits them. The inexperienced chaperone Viva Holloway has been entrusted to watch over three unsettling charges. There’s Rose, as beautiful as she is naïve, who plans to marry a cavalry officer she has met a mere handful of times. Her bridesmaid, Victoria, is hell-bent on losing her virginity en route before finding a husband of her own. And shadowing them all is the malevolent presence of a disturbed schoolboy named Guy Glover. From the parties of the wealthy Bombay socialites to the poverty of Tamarind Street, from the sooty streets of London to the genteel conversation of the Bombay Yacht Club, East of the Sun takes us back to a world we hardly understand but yearn to know. This is a book that has it all: glorious detail, fascinating characters, and masterful storytelling.
Download or read book Women of the Raj written by Margaret MacMillan and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2007-10-09 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the nineteenth century, at the height of colonialism, the British ruled India under a government known as the Raj. British men and women left their homes and traveled to this mysterious, beautiful country–where they attempted to replicate their own society. In this fascinating portrait, Margaret MacMillan examines the hidden lives of the women who supported their husbands’ conquests–and in turn supported the Raj, often behind the scenes and out of the history books. Enduring heartbreaking separations from their families, these women had no choice but to adapt to their strange new home, where they were treated with incredible deference by the natives but found little that was familiar. The women of the Raj learned to cope with the harsh Indian climate and ward off endemic diseases; they were forced to make their own entertainment–through games, balls, and theatrics–and quickly learned to abide by the deeply ingrained Anglo-Indian love of hierarchy. Weaving interviews, letters, and memoirs with a stunning selection of illustrations, MacMillan presents a vivid cultural and social history of the daughters, sisters, mothers, and wives of the men at the center of a daring imperialist experiment–and reveals India in all its richness and vitality. “A marvellous book . . . [Women of the Raj] successfully [re-creates] a vanished world that continues to hold a fascination long after the sun has set on the British empire.” –The Globe and Mail “MacMillan has that essential quality of the historian, a narrative gift.” –The Daily Telegraph “MacMillan is a superb writer who can bring history to life.” –The Philadelphia Inquirer “Well researched and thoroughly enjoyable.” –Evening Standard
Download or read book The Olivia Curtis Novels written by Rosamond Lehmann and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2018-06-19 with total page 601 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ten years separate these two poignant novels featuring the same young woman, by the New York Times–bestselling “novelist in the grand tradition” (Anita Brookner). British novelist Rosamond Lehmann “has always written brilliantly of women in love” (Margaret Drabble). In her pair of novels featuring Olivia Curtis—a shy, romantic, and hopeful seventeen-year-old looking forward to her first dance, and later, a sadder young woman in her twenties who still longs to capture lost passion—Lehmann creates “a completely compelling intimacy” that lingers long after the stories are over (Hermione Lee, The Guardian). Invitation to the Waltz: Seventeen-year-old Olivia Curtis has been invited to her first dance. She is thrilled and terrified. In her diary, she confides her hopes, doubts, and fears—about her pretty, confident older sister, Kate; her precocious baby brother, James; her eccentric country neighbors; and of course, the upcoming party, which she is sure will be the crowning event of her life. Divided into three parts—Olivia’s birthday, the day leading up to the dance, and the event itself—Invitation to the Waltz beautifully captures the conflicting emotions of a teenager on the threshold of womanhood. “Utterly charming and so desperately true that it almost hurts.” —The New York Times The Weather in the Streets: Ten years older with a failed marriage behind her, Olivia runs into Rollo Spencer, her girlhood crush from the ball, on a train, and is swept up in a heated but clandestine affair, since Rollo is married. Lehmann’s “honest” and “powerful” novel charts the tempestuous course of Olivia and Rollo’s forbidden relationship, from the first throes of passion through the toll of their deception on Olivia as she confronts the harsh reality of being the other woman (Kirkus Reviews). “A vividly realized, painfully convincing story of a love affair, written in Lehmann’s characteristic spare, poetic prose.” —Joyce Carol Oates
Download or read book The Great Indian Novel written by Shashi Tharoor and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this award-winning novel, Tharoor has masterfully recast the two-thousand-year-old epic, The Mahabharata, with fictional but highly recognizable events and characters from twentieth-century Indian politics. Nothing is sacred in this deliciously irreverent, witty, and deeply intelligent retelling of modern Indian history and the ancient Indian epic The Mahabharata. Alternately outrageous and instructive, hilarious and moving, it is a dazzling tapestry of prose and verse that satirically, but also poignantly, chronicles the struggle for Indian freedom and independence.
Download or read book The Light in the Forest written by Conrad Richter and published by Turtleback Books. This book was released on 2004-09-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For use in schools and libraries only. Fifteen year old John Cameron Butler, kidnapped and raised by the Lenape Indians since childhood, is returned to his people under the terms of a treaty and is forced to cope with a strange and different world that is no longer his.
