Paul Scott was born in north London in 1920. During the Second World War he held a commission in the Indian army, after which he worked for several years in publishing and for a literary agency. His first novel, JOHNNIE SAHIB was published in 1952, followed by twelve others of which the best known are the Raj Quartet: THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN, THE DAY OF THE SCORPION, THE TOWERS OF SILENCE and A DIVISION OF SPOILS. His last novel STAYING ON won the Booker Prize. He died in 1978.

Tusker and Lily Smalley stayed on in India. Given the chance to return 'home' when Tusker, once a Colonel in the British Army, retired, they chose instead to remain in the small hill town of Pangkot, with its eccentric inhabitants and archaic rituals left over from the days of the Empire.

Only the tyranny of their landlady, the imposing Mrs Bhoolabhoy, threatens to upset the quiet rhythm of their days.

Both funny and deeply moving, STAYING ON is a unique, engrossing portrait of the end of an empire and of a forty-year love affair.