No set of novels so richly recreates the last days of india under British rule--"Two nations locked in an imperial embrace"--as Paul Scott's historical fiction tour de force, " The raj quartet." "The Jewel in the Crown" ...No set of novels so richly recreates the last days of india under British rule--"Two nations locked in an imperial embrace"--as Paul Scott's historical fiction tour de force, " The raj quartet." "The Jewel in the Crown" Opens in 1942 as the British fear both Japanese invasion and indian demands for independence.