Books Set during the BRITISH RAJ compiled by Joanne Howard

4th October 2024

Books Set during the British Raj compiled author by Joanne Howard.

When one thinks of literature from the British Raj, it’s difficult to picture any one image or theme. The time period spans centuries, the perspectives ever changing from turbulent unrest in the nation’s political centers to reflective retreats in the hill stations of the empire. Whether written with pointed criticism of imperialism and its lasting scars or with a wistfulness for times gone by, the literary canon that covers the British Raj is as rich as the history itself.

In my debut novel, Sleeping in the Sun, I set out to illustrate a perspective that I hadn’t seen before in books about the British Raj: that of Americans in India, a unique position that gained all the privileges of whites but did not include acceptance into the stringent and archaic hierarchy of British society.

Along with my novel, here are 10 titles that explore the rich and complex history of the British Raj.

The Far Pavilions by M M Kaye

If you’re looking for a sweeping saga with legendary romance and exciting action, this book has 958 pages of it. Inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, this international bestseller was such a sensation when it came out in 1978 that travel companies were offering itineraries that followed the novel’s far-flung locales. Even if you can’t book a trip yourself, you can get lost in the pages as young Ashton, an English boy brought up as Hindu, follows his passionate but dangerous love for an Indian princess across the dry plains and snowy mountains of the subcontinent.

The Siege of Krishnapurby J G Farrell

A fictional retelling of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 – when Muslim soldiers rebelled against British rulers – comes to life in this historical fiction classic that won the Booker Prize. Characters are thrown into isolation, fear, and festering brutality as the siege wears on and the pillars of humanity are tested.

Staying On by Paul Scott

Perhaps better known for his behemoth Raj Quartet, Paul Scott won the Booker Prize with this brief coda that follows one English couple that chooses to stay in India long after the end of the British Raj. This quiet tale is a tender portrait of old love and the ways in which an empire’s scars can long remain.

Raj by Gita Mehta

A young princess is caught amidst subterfuge and romance as she takes the crown as Regent Maharani of Sirpur. Through her struggles to gain control as a young woman in power, the novel illustrates the epic demise of India’s many kingdoms during British rule.

Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March

Set in 17^th century Bombay, this crime novel is inspired by a true story of murder in the trade center of British India. Two women fall from a clocktower in broad daylight – when Captain Jim Agnihotri is called to solve the mystery, he discovers a labyrinth of divided loyalties at a time when political tension is high.

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

An adventurous saga set on the high seas of the opium trade routes, this historical novel follows a ragtag cast of Indians, Chinese, and westerners who embody the far reaches of the British Empire in the 1800s. This is merely book one in a trilogy, so strap in for an epic adventure.

Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Olivia is the young wife of an English civil servant in 1920s India, bored and suffocated by a life of social constraints due to her husband’s status. When she elopes with a charismatic but potentially dangerous Indian prince, she soon becomes pregnant and is unsure of the child’s paternity. What follows is her difficult choice to follow her heart or her duty. Another Booker Prize winner!

The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian by Nirad C. Chaudhuri

From a Bengali-English writer born in 1897, this nuanced and immersive account follows one man’s life on either side of India’s Independence. Having grown up in the British Empire, he developed a complicated appreciation for western culture, beginning his book with the words, “All that was good and living within us was made, shaped, and quickened by the same British rule.” What follows is over 500 pages of self discovery against a backdrop of modern India captured through Chaudhuri’s fiercely independent lens.

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

An Indian-born English boy and an ascetic priest form an unlikely bond during the Great Game, a historical period of competition between the British and Russian empires for influence over Asia. In this sweeping adventure tale, the young boy moves all over the rich landscape of India as well as the varied social and political currents as he engages in espionage for the British Raj. Along the way, Kim searches for his own family and sense of self in the ever-changing India he calls home.

Sleeping in the Sun by Joanne Howard

When two visitors arrive to the boarding house in India where an American boy is coming of age during the last years of the British Raj, truths unravel, disrupting his life and challenging the family’s sense of home. Meanwhile, their Indian servant is faced with an opportunity to break from the family and pursue a life of his own, but at what cost? As the story draws to an explosive climax, loyalties are tested and ideas of home and belonging are shattered.

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Joanne Howard is an Asian-American writer from California. She holds an MFA in writing from Pacific University. Her poetry received an honorable mention from Stanford University’s 2019 Paul Kalanithi Writing Award. Her fiction has been published in The Catalyst by UC Santa Barbara, The Metaworker Literary Magazine, and the Marin Independent Journal, and her non fiction has been published in Another New Calligraphy and The Santa Barbara Independent. She lives in Santa Rosa, CA.

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