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

5.0

The Jewel in the Crown is great and incredibly engrossing historical fiction. I read this in two sittings, but although it is a pretty hefty book, I imagine I could easily have sat down in the morning and finished it by dinner. Its plot has echoes of E.M. Forster's Passage to India, but as much as I love that book, this novel surpasses it in both complexity and the richness of the characters. I liked Daphne Manners, I felt for Hari Kumar, Robin White was a sweetheart, and Ronald Merrick was a sleaze, but I could connect on some level with all of them, as well as the rest of the characters in the book.
An especially stand-out scene for me was the intersection of race and class in the first confrontation between Hari Kumar and Ronald Merrick.
I can't wait to read the rest of the series.