"[A] vast and impressive novel about the last days of the British raj in India. " -"Time" "Remarkable ... Never has the theme-relations between Europeans and non-Europeans-been treated as brilliantly. " -"The New Yorker" "Through the Layton family the changing spirit of the raj may be judged ... From a work like this ... all who care about fiction can take heart. " -"London Times" "Magnificent... Scott throws us into India, wretched and beautiful. He makes us become his people, sometimes by grinding us down under their anguish. I cannot think of anything worth knowing about the raj that Scott hasn't told me... His contribution to literature is permanent. " -"The New York Times Book Review" "["A Division of the Spoils"'] two great and time-resisting virtues are, first, the extraordinary range of characters it so skillfully portrays and, secondly, its powerful evocation of the last days of British India. " -"Times Literary Supplement"