Heat and Dust

Heat and Dust (1975), a novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, won the Booker Prize in 1975. The book takes place within two separate, yet thematically similar, timelines. In the 1920s, during the British Raj, Olivia moves to India with her husband and quickly feels stifled by the strict British society that is maintained in the colonies. In the modern day, the 1970s, an unnamed narrator journeys back to India to find out more about Olivia, her grandfather’s first wife.

The narrator comes into the possession of letters written in the 1920s between Olivia and her sister Marcia. Olivia was her grandfather Douglas’s first wife before he married Tessie, the narrator’s grandmother. Douglas has recently passed away, and Henry, an old friend from his days in colonial India, has brought the letters to the family. The letters show that Olivia moved to India with Douglas but soon after eloped with the Nawab, the local prince. Captivated by Olivia’s story and keen to find out what happened to her, the narrator decides to travel to India to follow in her footsteps.

The narrator arrives in Bombay, finding India much changed from the descriptions in Olivia’s letters. While staying at a hostel, a woman who has lived in the country for thirty years talks to the narrator about India’s “downfall,” pointing to the poverty she can see on the street from the window. The narrator heads to Satipur, where Olivia had lived. Olivia’s old house is a government building, so it is a dead end.



She sublets a room from a government official Inder Lal, who lives with his wife, Ritu, and his mother. Inder Lal offers to show her the Nawab's palace; they travel by bus to Khatm to see it. The building, now uninhabited and decaying, fails to impress the narrator and, once again, she learns nothing about Olivia’s fate.

The narration then switches to Olivia’s perspective. She has been staying in Stiput for a few months and is already bored since she has nothing to do but stay at home. An exciting change comes in the form of an invitation to dine at the Nawab's palace. During this event, she meets Harry, a close friend of the Nawab's, and they bond over their dislike of the British officials and their conversation. However, she is fascinated by the pomp and splendor of the palace and drawn to the Nawab himself, who seems interested in her.

The Nawab visits Olivia at her house, along with a few other people, including Harry. They spend a wonderful day with her, and she is excited to go back to see him. The next time they receive an invitation to the palace, Douglas refuses because one of his friends has not been invited.



Olivia, continuing to feel miserable, is saddened by the death of the baby of one of the British families, the Saunders. Another woman she knows, Mrs. Crawford, takes Olivia to visit an Indian noblewoman at the palace. During a conversation with the women, Olivia asks about the Nawab and finds out he is married to a mentally ill woman called Sandy. The Nawab visits Olivia at her house, saddened by her refusal of his invitation and inviting her to a picnic near a local fertility shrine, the Baba Firdau. She goes, and during the visit, they continue to grow closer.

Meanwhile, the narrator settles into her life in India. She develops a daily routine, dresses in saris, and learns enough Hindi to converse. She develops a friendship with Inder Lal and finds out more about his life. His marriage to Ritu was arranged; he seems to find her simple and plain.

As the nights grow warmer, the whole household starts sleeping together in the courtyard; one night, Ritu starts screaming in her sleep. Inder Dal’s mother and the narrator succeed in getting her into the house and the former calms her down with some form of prayer. After that, the narrator and Inder Lal’s mother become close. She starts spending time with the local group of matronly widows and meets Maji, their leader, who is said to have powers.



The narrator becomes acquainted with a man called Chid, who claims to be on a spiritual journey sent by his guru. With nowhere to stay, Chid starts living with the narrator. While the people of Satipur are willing to see him as a holy man, the narrator notes that he is materialistic, greedy, and obsessed with sex. She does, however, agree to have sex with him, somehow drawn to him as well. She goes to visit the Baba Firdau with Inder Lal’s mother and her friends during a festival and starts to feel a part of the community.

Ritu’s condition worsens, and she is locked up in the house. The family tries to exorcise her by poking her with a hot iron, which the narrator disapproves of. Maji suggests they do a pilgrimage to cure her, and Chidi, Indra Lal’s mother, and Ritu set off. Later, Chid returns, having rejected his holy lifestyle and suddenly despising everything to do with India. Gravely ill, he is dejected when his doctor tells him that he cannot leave.

Meanwhile, Olivia is torn between her husband, with whom she wants to start a family, and the Nawab. The British officials and their wives are critical of the Nawab’s attitude towards the conflicts in his community and suspect that he is involved in criminal activity. Olivia continues to see him in secret, aided by Harry who drives her to the palace. Harry falls ill, and Olivia has the chance to see the close personal friendship between Harry and the Nawab.



The narrator goes to Baba Firdau with Inder Dal and starts an affair with him. In a parallel chapter following this, Olivia goes to Baba Firdau with Nawam and sleeps with him as well. Maji tells the narrator that she is pregnant, offering to perform an abortion to save her the shame. Olivia also finds out she is pregnant and tells the Nawab before she tells Douglas. Both men are happy, assuming the child to be theirs. In the present, the narrator decides to stay in India, as it is the only way to follow in Olivia’s footsteps.

The narrator refuses the offer of an abortion, but Olivia does not. The British doctor knows enough about local medicine to know her miscarriage was induced, and so she does not return to Douglas after the hospital, fleeing to the palace instead. She and the Nawam elope and are never seen again. The narrator chooses to go into the mountains, to a town she only calls X, where Olivia had gone. The Nawam provided for Olivia, but he eventually left her behind, leaving to spend time in London with Harry. The narrator visits the house Olivia grew old and takes a room in an ashram.

Heat and Dust was adapted into a film in 1983 and produced by Merchant Ivory, a film production company for which Ruth Prawer Jhabvala wrote several scripts. These films, characterized by their dramatic period plots featuring stifled British people, many against the backdrop of a romanticized India, became an iconic film style in their own right during the 1980s. Famous Merchant Ivory productions include A Room With A View, Howard’s End, and The Remains of the Day.