Paperback. Orange cover with black title.

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A FROST PAPERBACK is a loved book which a member of the Frost family has checked for condition, cleanliness, completeness and readability. When the buyer collects their book, the delivery charge of £3.00 is not made.

This book works on two very different levels. Firstly, it describes life in a princely state in India, roughly in the last 30 years of the British Raj. Although a third of the population of India lived in princely states, most descriptions are of British-administered India. Forster was an intelligent observer, independently-minded for his time if not completely unprejudiced (he obviously has problems with Hindu beliefs). He was also a very witty and erudite writer: without “The Hill of Devi”, this aspect of India would have lost a very fine reporter. Secondly however, it describes the human tragedy of the Maharajah of Dewas, Senior whom Forster clearly held in high affection. Trapped as the ruler with limited powers of a small state which his background and education did not equip him to manage, he struggled and failed to meet the expectations of the British Raj and its officials, fell-out with rulers of other princely states and some of his own family, and had a disastrous marriage. The Maharajah could be portrayed as imprudent, selfish and an anachronism, but Forster so much emphasises his humanity and the tragedy of his virtual expulsion from Dewas and death in exile that it is difficult to feel anything but sympathy and pity.