The conclusion of the "majestic" quartet about the waning days of the British empire in India, "a commanding achievement" ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
After exploiting India's divisions for years, the British are departing in such haste that no one is prepared for the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1947. The twilight of the raj turns bloody. Against the backdrop of the violent partition of India and Pakistan, A Division of the Spoils illuminates one last bittersweet romance, revealing the divided loyalties of the British as they flee, retreat from, or cling to India.
"[These] novels are a spectacular explosion of history set off within the lives of a dozen or so Britons and Indians on the edges of vast change . . . If you want to know where the political world we now live in began, Paul Scott's novels are a place to start." — The New York Times Book Review
"A rich novel of manners . . . Politics, cultism, police and military interrogation—all moving toward inevitable murder and violence—are integral parts of a carefully crafted, complex novel." — Library Journal