Continued brilliance.
Sarah Layton quite prominent in this book, which ends with her losing her virginity. To what extent is her sexual encounter with (I think he is called Nobby Clarke) a rape, analogous in some way to Daphne Manner’s? It is certainly very ambiguously presented but Sarah is, at least superficially a much stronger character, and a bit of her wants to lose her virginity.
It ends with her sister’s childbirth (triggered by the death of aunt Mabel, peripherally covered the episode with the scorpion) and the release from prison of the Muslim Indian nationalist (whose’ son is Khasim), whose older son has joined the INA, much to his father’s disgust. This of course echoes Teddy’s shock that Indian soldiers have betrayed the Raj, which leads to his death.
Hard to identify an underlying theme; is it the tiredness of the British as colonialist occupiers of India by the mid 1940’s. That is certainly Sarah’s view.
It is such a rich book.
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