The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott

 Book one of the Raj Quartet

This is a novel that you have to commit to concentrating on because the level of detail is outstanding and every word counts.  It's over five hundred pages of finely typed print, so that high level of concentration has to be sustained over quite a few days.  I usually read a book in a week, but it took me two to read this one and it is just one of the four books that make up the Raj Quartet.

It's set in India, 1942, which is right in the middle of the Second World War, and the country has been unsettled by the continued occupation by the British, and the idea of self-rule is gaining supporters.  The police and military are struggling to keep control of the population and British people are setting up contingency plans to establish places of safety in the event of an uprising.

In late summer when the heavy rains began, two events happened in Mayapore that shook the British to their core.  The population had been gathering in numbers along the roads around the town, and anyone with a white skin was considered to be an enemy to their cause.  After taking a chance on her safety, a local school teacher encountered a group of local men while driving her car accompanied by a male Indian teacher from the same mission school.  The car was stopped and Miss Crane treated roughly but her companion was beaten to death for siding with the enemy.  She sat with his body in the pouring rain until she was found in a state a confusion some hours later.  The second event was the rape of an English girl, Daphne Manners, in the Bibigar Gardens and this triggered a manhunt for the culprits and a heavy handed response from the local authorities.

These two incidents have faded from public memory, but years later, a British man has decided to dig back in to the existing evidence to try and piece together eactly what happened in each case.  Each section of the book covers some element of the history and it soon becomes clear that certain characters have an important part to play in both.  Some parts of the book are in the form of private letters and diaries belonging to key players, and others are transcripts of interviews taken from people who were involved at the time.  Gradually the full picture of what happened emerges and each account provides more detail and clarity.

The author, Paul Scott, gives every account a level of clarity that brings every scenario alive.  Time is taken to take in the surroundings and emotional atmosphere of each element and this can only come from a deep understanding of that specific place and time in history.  The whole thing has completely drawn me in and I had no hesitation in picking up the second book in the series to read straight away.  It is my intention to read all four as soon as I can get hold of the others from the library, and I'm sure the next books will not disappoint.