A review by paulataua
The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott

5.0

Absolutely top drawer! The ‘Jewel in the Crown’ is the first part of Paul Scott’s ‘Raj Quartet’, four novels that deal with the final years of the British Raj in India. The focus of the novel is the story of the events leading up to a rape and what follows, and is disclosed mainly through the pronouncements of the characters in the novel. We soon become aware that the people telling their stories are actually the story itself, and the rape is really just an event through which the author lays bare the thoughts and attitudes of that age. It is hard believe that people could hold views like those and behave as they did, but maybe years in the future someone will be puzzling over our views and behavior in the same way. A really sobering look at the past that should make us consider the present. I would say more, but I must bash off and grab a nimbu before tiffin, and then make a start on the next one in the quartet.