by Paul Scott
First published 2005
Colonel Tusker Smalley and his wife Lucy refuse to leave India after independence, clinging to their small hotel in Bombay. As their aging bodies betray them and local dynamics shift, the Smalleys navigate a crumbling world where their colonial identity becomes increasingly irrelevant. Their marriage—fraught with decades of quiet resentment and unexpected tenderness—becomes a battleground of survival. When Tusker's health deteriorates and financial pressures mount, Lucy must decide whether to preserve their shared history or forge a new path. A razor-sharp portrait of two souls trapped between an empire's sunset and an uncertain future.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-driven, fish-out-of-water
Setting: India
Period: 20th-Century
256 pages · Paperback · Arrow