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The Jewel In The Crown (The Raj Quartet) [Paperback]

Paul Scott (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 29 Jan 1996 | Series: The Raj Quartet

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.

(2004-06-24)

Frequently Bought Together

The Jewel In The Crown (The Raj Quartet) + The Day Of The Scorpion (Raj Quartet 2) + The Towers Of Silence (The Raj Quartet)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 528 pages
  • Publisher: Arrow; New Ed edition (29 Jan 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0099439964
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099439967
  • Product Dimensions: 13 x 2.7 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 21,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Paul Scott
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Review

"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)

Book Description

The opening title of Paul Scott's masterpiece, The Raj Quartet, dramatised by Radio 4 (2004-06-24)
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Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
16 reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A simply wonderful read 18 Mar 2005
By A. W. Macfarlane
Format:Paperback
What a marvellous work! My copy has the words, "Dazzling" (Guardian), on the front cover, and on the back cover it is lauded by The Times and the New York Times; it would be impertinent to offer any other opinion. I did not watch the BBC dramatisation, and having now read the novel I cannot conceive how a television adaptation could convey more than a tiny part of its myriad strands. The central story is quite slight, but it is a metaphor for the larger picture, and what grips are the context and the backgrounds. The context, of course, is the burgeoning national consciousness that will lead to the independence of India; but along with that there is the slipping through the imperial fingers of the jewel itself, and the inevitability of the decline of all that was British, all that was Empire. Against this huge backdrop, with all its ramifications for global politics, is played out the drama of Daphne Manners and her rape. The balance is perfect: the subjugation and exploitation of a vast, impoverished country by a small, rich European one - and by the British Empire in all its self-deluding glory - versus the violation of one young Englishwoman by natives of that very country. The story itself is told from several perspectives - Edwina Crane, Lily Chatterjee, Brigadier Reid - each fleshed out in intricate, touching and perceptive detail. There are glorious descriptive touches, too: the magnificent description of the Macgregor House early on, for example. Read it like you would drink a premier cru: slowly, savouring the flavour, relaxing and wondering at the skill that has gone into making it.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent 9 Oct 1999
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
"The Jewel in the Crown" combines an almost impossibly deep understanding of India and her colonial rulers with fictional characters of such colour and complexity that it beggars belief they are not and have never been flesh. The decline of British rule and the rise of Indian nationalism forms the background for a novel of astonishing depth and imagination. I cannot wait to read the rest of the books in the series.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A great exciting book about life in Britsh occupied India. 13 Mar 2002
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The Jewel in the Crown is a novel that combines a story of romantic love, a heinous crime and its consequences, and a detailed account of the social and political aspects of life in Colonial India, at a time when British rule was nearing collapse. It also presents the reader with several ironical situations which, if they accomplish nothing in their own right, serve to heighten one's understanding of the hopelessness of any form of reconciliation between the Britons and Indians that could erase more than a century of colonial oppression and native resistance. However, behind all of this, and also in front of it, one basic theme dominates the scene: As Mr. Scott writes in Part Five, the section devoted to 'Young Kumar', 'In India an Indian and an Englishman could never meet on the same terms.' This inescapable fact is what dooms the relationship between Daphne Manners, an English girl living in Mayapore, India, and Hari Kumar, an Indian who was brought up in England. It is Miss Crane's failure to recognise this unequivocal rule that leads to her undoing. It is possible that Paul Scott's main goal in publishing The Jewel in the Crown was to prove that by 1942, after a long history of racism, colonial oppression, and violent native uprisings, the British had no choice but to 'Quit India.' The time when the turbulent events of Great Britain and India's common history could still have been resolved had long since passed. The story was closed; the outcome inevitable. Daphne and Hari's failed attempt to break the old social barrier pushes the reader's hope of British-Indian reconciliation to the ground, and the terrible and ironic fate of the two lovers, and of Miss Crane, all champions of tolerance and understanding among the English and Indian populations living in India, drives that hope into the dust.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book - shame about the grammar/spelling
The Jewel in the Crown was one of my favourite TV series and the books don't disappoint - reading this one was wonderful, especially while travelling through India. Read more
Published 4 months ago by BrightonBel
5.0 out of 5 stars Melancholy, ambitious with long lasting consequences.
`The Jewel in the Crown' (Vol 1 The Raj Quartet) gives a deep understanding of India and her colonial rulers set against a background of declining British rule, colonial... Read more
Published 12 months ago by David Ogilvy
4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling
It is the Second World War and India is starting to ferment. Anxious to start ruling their own country, the Indian people are persuaded to delay their ambitions on account of the... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Clive A. H. Still
5.0 out of 5 stars Where race and class are currency
Paul Scott's The Jewel In The Crown is the first of his tetralogy of novels on British India. These really were the last days of the Raj. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Philip Spires
4.0 out of 5 stars Read and learn . . .
The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott - some of it a bit dry and repetitive which I think imprints the atmosphere of India on you but the section on Hari Kumar is exquisitively... Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2010 by Fay Farrell
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding
The whole of the Raj Quartet is excellent, but Jewel is the very best of the four. It focuses on India and its tensions in the years leading up to partition, but is so much more... Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2009 by T. Ryder
3.0 out of 5 stars such a good idea
Although it starts off in a very traditional format, don't be fooled - this is a postmodern novel that jumps from here to there and everywhere, keeping you guessing as to its... Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2008 by daisyrock
5.0 out of 5 stars The Jewel is the book itself
The first book in the "Raj" quartet, it is set in India during the second world war, at a time when Britain's colony was stirring itself towards independence. Read more
Published on 18 April 2008 by S. Diment
4.0 out of 5 stars The decline of the British Raj in India
In the India of 1942 two rapes take place at the same time - that of the English girl Daphne Manners in Mayapore and that of India by the British. Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2007 by HORAK
5.0 out of 5 stars So sad
I was so sad about ending. It's an excellent story though. I hoped in the end that the baby was Hari Kumar's baby. It's a shame Daphne and Hari had to suffer so much. Read more
Published on 15 May 2005 by Marie
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