Paul Scott · 1966 · rail

Paul Scott's four-novel sequence, published between 1966 and 1975, charts the last five years of the British Raj, from the Quit India movement of 1942 to the bloody partition of 1947. Set largely in the fictional province of the city of Mayapore, the hill station of Pankot, and the princely state of Mirat, it follows a sprawling cast of British and Indian lives through the long, violent unraveling of empire. The line traced here is a representative sweep of its key settings rather than one journey.

1. 1
   Mayapore

   In 1942 an assault in the Bibighar Gardens of Mayapore detonates the events that ripple through the Quartet.

2. 2
   Pankot

   The hill station where the Layton family weather the war years.

3. 3
   Mirat

   The princely state where a wedding ends in death.

4. 4
   Delhi

   The seat of imperial power as independence races closer.

5. 5
   The Punjab

   And partition in 1947, the trains crossing the new border running with the dead.