Raj quartet IV

Ronald's injuries cement the friendly relations between him and the Laytons. Susan asks him to become godfather to her baby when it is born and Sarah feels obliged to keep seeing him when he recovers. There is tension between Old Mrs Mabel Layton and Mildred. Mildred has become a drinker, feeling lost without her husband, and she turns to a young officer and has an affair. Susan's baby is born, and it is a boy. She seems odd and withdrawn and Sarah worries about her. Then she wraps the baby in a lace cloth and sets fire to it. The baby is not harmed but she is clearly having a breakdown and is taken to a hospital. Mildred seems detached from her daughter. When visiting Merrick, Sarah stayed with Fenny Grace, her mother's sister and met some British officers. Fenny worries that Sarah does not get much of a social life so she is keen to offer her niece a bit of fun and encourages her to go out with the officer, James Clark. However Sarah also rather fed up with her limited life, decides to lose her virginity to him. Mildred discovers that her daughter is pregnant. She is furious with her sister for not watching over her better. She tells her to sort out the problem and arrange an abortion for Sarah. Sarah has the operation and finds herself being entangled between her mother and old Mrs Layton and Barbie. When Mrs Layton dies, Barbie is more or less thrown out of Mabel's house, Rose Cottage, by Mildred. She tells Mildred that Mabel had wanted to be buried next to her husband. Mildred ignores her pleas about this, as it is very hot and she wants the old lady buried as quickly as possible and she resents the lower class Barbie interfering.

Raj quartet III

Ronald tries to get in with the Laytons and pay court to Sarah as she is single. She is uneasy with him. After the marriage Teddy and Ronald are posted to Burma, and Susan becomes pregnant. She lazes around, while Sarah does war work. The Laytons are on uneasy terms with Col Layton's stepmother, who lives in Rose Cottage, an attractive house, which Mildred hopes to inherit some day. Old Mrs Layton does not much like her stepson's wife. She takes in a paying guest to keep them a bit at a distance. Its an elderly lady called Barbie Bachelor, who used to be a missionary teacher. She is retired and considered not quite a lady by the Laytons and their friends. Barbie is lonely and fond of old Mrs Layton, and she's aware that Mildred does not like her. Several months after the wedding, the Laytons are told that Teddy has been killed in action and that Merrick who was with him, was badly wounded. Susan is very upset and he family are nerous that she is showing signs of instability. She never seemed that fond of Teddy, but now she persuades Sarah to go and visit Merrick in hospital. Sarah agrees to go and finds that Merrick is very badly injured. His face has been burned and his arm has to be amputated. She wishes she could feel more sympathy for him but she finds him unnerving.

Raj Quartet II

Daphne and Hari have a row, but then they make up, late at night and make love in a darkened garden. After their lovemaking, they are attacked by a gang of Indians and Daphne is raped. Hari is considered the chief suspect since he is Indian and he's arrested by Merrick. Daphne says that she knows the rapist gang were Indian peasants... and it was not Hari. However the local British are outraged that an English woman should be raped by Indians, and she knows there is very little hope for Hari. She finds she is pregnant after the rape and she decides to keep the child. Hari is tortured by Ronald Merrick and sexually abused. He is imprisoned and Daphne has the baby. It is a girl, whom she calls Parvati, but she dies in childbirth. Lady Manners, Daphne's aunt who brought her out to India takes care of the baby, and is snubbed by the British. Lady Manners takes a holiday in the hills with the baby, and to her surprise she has a visit from Sarah Layton, an army officer's daughter who is also holidaying nearby. Sarah's father is a prisoner in Germany and his wife Mildred is a rather snobbish, unemotional woman, is on holiday with her 2 daughters, Sarah who is intelligent and a little unconventional and Susan who is younger and more willing to fit in with the prejudices of the Raj colony. Susan is engaged and Sarah does not seem to attract many men. Sarah sees the baby, and talks to Lady Manners, who is amazed that anyone should visit her now that she is rearing a half Indian child. Soon afterwards, Sarah and her family go to one of the Princely states, where Teddy Bingham Susan's fiance is stationed for their wedding. The best man is ill and unable to do his role, so Teddy invites another officer to stand in. The officer is Ronald Merrick. He has managed to get into the army and is trying to weasel his way into the upper crust Army set.

Paul Scott and the Raj quartet.

The 4 novels of this series cover the British in India during the War and afterwards. Daphne Manners is an English girl, rather plain and a bit clumsy, who goes to India during the war and takes up volunteer work. She lives with an Indian lady, Lady Chatterji, and meets a woman who takes in the sick and dying and nurses them. Sister Ludmilla is reckoned to be mad by the British colony, and they are snobbish about Indians. Daphne becomes friendly with Hari Kumar, who works on a local newspaper. He has been brought up in England and finds the Indians so different that he cannot get on with them.. but he is looked down on by the British. Daphne goes out with him but it is difficult. She is also courted by Ronald Merrick, an Englishman who is in the Police service but who comes from a relatively poor background. He too is looked down on by the wealthier British, but he is still treated as one of the elite. Daphne does not like him much but feels sorry for him. He is arrogant and likes being in the police, but he wants to get into the army which is of higher status.

Available on Amazon

I have 2 stories which are available on Amazon. Both are set in the country music world. Beds and Blue Jeans is a story set a few years ago, about a bar singer in Nashville... who has a girlfriend and a baby, and is trying to make his way in the music world. Rough Music is set in America around the late 70s, about a country rock band who are beginning to have some success and do a lot of touring. The 2 lead singers are both married and find that the music life affects their marriages. These are not happy ever after stories, but I hope they are a good read. Look on Amazon.

North and South Part III

Margaret's mother dies and her father dies soon after. She leaves Milton and goes to live with her godfather, who is reasonably well off. She also visits her cousin Edith in London. She has begun to develop feelings for John Thornton. On a visit back to her parents' old home, she realises how hard poverty is for farm labourers and the like and becomes less romantic about the countryside. In London, she goes about socially but she also does social work. She receives a proposal from Henry Lennox, a relative of Edith's but she does not love him. In Milton, John has financial troubles. The strike and variations in trade leaves him losing money. Margaret hears of his troubles and since she has now inherited her godfather's fortune, she offers to buy up the mill and he can rent it from her and manage it. She finds that he has become friendly with Nicholas Higgins, although they disagree about politics. John proposes to her and she accepts him.

KITTEN LADY

I'd like to mention the American Kitten Lady, Hannah Shaw and her work for animals. She has several rescue animals in her home, including pigs and goats. She works at TNR (Trap Neuter Return), taking in cats who live rough and neutering them and sending them back, safe from having more and more kittens. She recently rescued 3 kittens who were very tiny and weak and they are now growing strong.