The day of the scorpion - Paul Scott

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.