HarperCollins India to Publish Sonia Gandhi's Memoir
New Delhi: HarperCollins India will publish Sonia Gandhi's memoir, the publishing house announced today, September 4.
Belonging: A Journey of Love will be out in India on November 10.
The book, one of the most anticipated political memoirs of this age, will be published worldwide by Alfred A Knopf, which happens to be the US-based imprint of Penguin Random House India.
On August 28, news that Penguin Random House India (PRHI) will not be publishing the book over Gandhi's refusal to make certain “editorial changes and deletions” in “a part of the manuscript” created ripples in the country. This led to the publishing house claiming that the description of the event as an editorial fallout did not “accurately reflect the circumstances.”
Earlier reports had it that the PRHI book deal fell through as Gandhi had refused to make changes or deletions of references to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and Chinese intrusions into India.
PRHI has made similar decisions in recent times when it comes to politically sensitive material that might stand a chance of offending the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, including, most recently, former Army chief general M.M. Naravane’s memoirs titled Four Stars of Destiny and Joe Sacco’s book on the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.
The HarperCollins press release notes that the account begins in Cambridge, England, where in 1965 Sonia Maino, as a 19-year-old student, fell in love with the person who would become prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi.
Known to be famously reticent, the book is being publicised as an account in which the Congress leader opens up to tell the story of her life, from her childhood in post-war Veneto, to her arrival to India, and the losses that reshaped not only her own future but also that of her adopted home.
"Most revelatory of all is the portrait of Sonia herself as she invites readers into her private joys and travails, as well as the people and events that shaped her," the HarperCollins press release notes.
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