Books in the Raj Quartet S. series

Against the backdrop of the violent partition of India and Pakistan, this volume sketches one last bittersweet romance, revealing the divided loyalties of the British as they flee, retreat from, or cling to India.

In this volume, readers meet Mabel Layton and her daughters, stranded in their colonial mansion awaiting Colonel Layton's return from war. As the flames of independence continue to threaten the Raj, leaders of the Indian Congress are rounded up into British prisons.

This first volume opens in 1942 as the British fear both Japanese invasion and Indian demands for self-rule. Daphne Manners, daughter of the province governor, is running at night through the Mayapore gardens, away from her Indian lover, who will soon be arrested for her alleged rape.

This volume follows the fate of the Laytons and the retired missionary techer, who can forsee the end of the Raj, and both welcome and lament its passing.