The Day of the Scorpion - Couverture souple

BOOK TWO OF THE RAJ QUARTET

India, August 9th 1942. The morning brings raids and the arrest by British police of Congress Party members. Amongst the prisoners is the distinguished ex-Chief Minister Mohammed Ali Kasim. Loyal to the party's central vision of a unified free India, his incarceration is a symptom of the growing deterioration of Anglo-Indian relations.

For the long-serving British family, the Laytons, the political and social ramifications are immediate, disturbing and tragic. Some, like Ronald Merrick, believe that true intimacy between the races is impossible; others, such as Sarah Layton, struggle to come to terms with their Anglo-Indian past. With growing confusion and bewilderment, the British are forced to confront the violent and often brutal years that lie ahead of them.

When ex-Chief Minister Mohammed Ali Kasim is arrested by English police officers at this home in Ranpur, his detainment signals the first of the wholesale arrests of influential Indians suspected of Sympathising with the Congress Committee's call on the British to quit India. For families such as the Laytons, who have lived and served in India for generations, the immediate social and political realities are both disturbing and tragic. Once more, Scott combines 'brilliant craftsmanship, psychological perception and objective reporting' (new York Times) to create a gripping and compassionate novel set in the last days of the Raj.