"Imagine, then, a flat landscape, dark for the moment, but even so conveying to a girl running in the still deeper sha…"Imagine, then, a flat landscape, dark for the moment, but even so conveying to a girl running in the still deeper shadows cast by the wall of the Bibighar Gardens an idea of immensity, of distance, such as years before Miss Crane had been conscious of standing where a lane ended and cultivation began: a different landscape but also in the alluvial plain between the mountains of the north and the plateau of the south."The first in Paul Scott’s Raj Quartet, The Jewel in the Crown is a remarkable allegory about the relationship between the imperialistic power of Britain and her gem that is India. It is a penetrating contrast between darkness and light and contains striking metaphors that emphasize the racial tensions and the gulf between the British and the people of India at a time when their ultimate goal was that of independence. The caste system within India is also examined to such an extent that we understand the barriers between the citizens themselves. There is such a sense of place and time and Scott’s skillful writing really connects you with the beauty of the country as well as the wretchedness of the poverty-stricken. The reader sees, smells, hears and feels all, thanks to incredibly lush descriptions. The prose is really quite exquisite at times. "The range of green is extraordinary, palest lime, butter emerald, mid-tones, neutral tints. The textures of the leaves are many and varied, they communicate themselves through sight to imaginary touch, exciting the finger-tips: leaves coming into the tenderest flesh, superbly in their prime, crisping to old age; all this at the same season because here there is no autumn. In the shadows there are dark blue veils, the indigo dreams of plants fallen asleep, and odours of sweet and necessary decay, numerous places …