The sequel to 'The Raj Quartet', and very different in lots of ways.
I suppose essentially a tragi-comedy, about Tusker and Lucy Smalley, 2 minor characters in the quartet who stay on after the Raj and until Tusker’s death in April 1972. The India they have remained in has totally changed; there are few Brit’s left, although a visiting hippy, and Pankot is now run by the vulgar Indian arrivistes and a few old hanger’s on, themselves relics of the Raj.
Their marriage is neither particularly happy nor unhappy. Tusker’s death is superficially precipitated by a letter from the Indian hotel owner keen to sell to developers, giving him notice to quit the old apartment annexed to the hotel where they have lived for years. Much of the narrative is given over to Indians of the servant class.
Again very good and totally different.
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