The Jewel in the Crown

Daphne Manners, an unsophisticated British woman visiting Mayapore, falls in love with Hari Kumar, a complex, young Indian who has been educated in England. Inexorably the two lovers are caught up in the social upheaval sweeping India at the end of British rule...until they are parted forever after the fatal confrontation in the Bibighar Gardens. Since the author is saying that their tragedy is as much about India as it is about them, he tells the story in the words of seven diverse characters involved in the affair. Sam Dastor interprets them all with dramatic ease. Having for years narrated the books about Inspector Ghote of the Bombay Secret Police, he has perfected his Indian accent. But he was also educated at Cambridge and is just as convincing as Miss Crane and Ronald Merrick and the other British expatriates. He captures beautifully the deep feeling growing between Daphne and Hari as they reach out to each other. Once again a narrator's inspired reading breathes life into two characters who never seemed so alive on the printed page.Their star-crossed love, glorified as it is by the human voice, reaffirms the enduring tragedy of The Jewel in the Crown. J.C. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

It takes a masterful reader to captivate listeners for 21 hours. Sam Dastor, winner of numerous Earphones awards, does it again. His elegant interpretation makes Scott's prose seem even more eloquent than it is. Even more impressive is his brilliant dramatization of individual characters: British and Indian, male and female. The structure of this book makes dramatic skill especially crucial. Not until tape 14 does Daphne Manners tell what actually happened when she met Hari Kumar in the Bibighar Gardens on August 9, 1942. The rest is accounts of all the other people involved. Naturally, each must be told just as that character would tell it...a formidable challenge for any narrator. Sam Dastor should get a jewel for his crown! J.C. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine