Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust, 1975

The 1975 Booker Prize winner that was also made into a Merchant Ivory film. I enjoyed this closely examined interaction of cultures and eras, in which a 1970s British woman goes to India in search of the truth about her 1920s step-grandmother, the naïve wife of a dull British diplomat, who forms a brief romance with a minor Indian prince. A small scandal and not especially dramatic, though what impresses are the well-drawn characters, the portrayal of the condescending paternalism of the British as India’s colonial masters, and an atmospheric rendering of the all-pervading, oppressive Indian climate. Recommended.  PY

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