Books: That Elephant Is Back

FAR, FAR THE MOUNTAIN PEAK (471 pp.)—John Masters—Viking ($5).

The sun may set on the British Empire, but never, apparently, on novels about it. Currently the most prolific of old-colonial-writing hands is John Masters (Bhowani Junction, Coromandel!), an ex-infantry officer (4th Gurkha Rifles) who now offers the sixth installment of his projected 35-volume epic of the British in India. The book is a reliable old elephant, advancing indomitably over the narrative terrain while throwing the dust of unlikely adventures in the reader's eye. The gist of Far, Far the Mountain Peak is that, given enough rope in India, a cad may climb...

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