These are big long books and it has taken a week to read each one.
Guy Perron (Charles Dance on the TV) finally appears in this one and is prominent, along with Sarah and towards the end Mr Khasim senior.
It ends with the terrible murder of Moslems on the train and, less terribly because it seems deserved if not almost self willed, a recounting of Merrick’s death.
It is difficult to imagine a writer more ambiguous about a central character than Scott’s attitude to Merrick; Milton to Satan one could suggest, portentously? Scott is such a good writer that he pulls out these comparisons; I can’t understand why he is so underrated. People talk about Kingsley Amis et al as great mid 20th century English writers, but frankly they write trivia in comparison.
'The Raj Quartet' - if that is its name - is definitely my book of the year, if not of several years, so far.
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