As a keen student of Indian history, I have always been appalled by much British conduct towards India and Indians. The treatment meted out to the descendants of Duleep Singh was particularly obnoxious. Initially Sophia was well received but was never viewed as being "one of us"to be able to marry, or have children here, a country which she viewed as home. As a result, she threw herself into a number of causes, plainly looking for the fulfilment denied her in her personal life. This is fiction, but it's loosely based on things that have happened in the past. It's about this woman whose body is found after this big party on a little fictional island in West Cork. It's uncomfortable to read but compulsive - you can't put it down. I absolutely devoured it. This young girl's body is found and no one's ever arrested, but there's this understanding that the small community know who did it. And then 10 years later, this film crew comes along to make a documentary about the murder and it all kind of unravels.

This book is a masterpiece and a master record of one of the most influential figures in history and her family. As someone very interested not only in history and women’s history but India and their history this book could have been made in a lab for me.

The book very much tells the story on its own terms and historical context. There is no attempt made to try and link events to current events and themes. Overall this is refreshing (such comparisons are frequently over-bearing, presumptuous – the reader can choose to draw her/his own links and anachronistic).

Although Sophia was involved in a number of causes during her life, I was left with the feeling that her passionate nature resulted in her being caught up in the causes of others rather than those that might have been her own choice without their influence, and that on some level she was used by them. Less emphasis was put on her work on behalf of Indian soldiers and the lascars, although these seemed to be causes that were not unique to her, but ones which she chose without undue influence. A fascinating biography of a historical figure who, along with her family, deserves to be better known. Sophia Duleep Singh was the daughter of the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire and raised in Britain, with Queen Victoria as her godmother. Her father presented the Koh-I-Noor diamond to the Queen. M.S. Merian - R. Tagore International Centre of Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences: Metamorphoses of the Political (ICAS:MP), New Delhi, India These questions have yielded three books so far, and the popular ongoing podcast Empire, which Anand co-hosts with the historian William Dalrymple. Real entertainment. Shannon has continued to build on this imagined world with intricacy, and Paige's voice comes through to deliver a suspenseful story * Washington Post *

Museum of Richmond exhibition: Celebrating 800 years of St Mary Magdalene at the heart of Richmond". Richmond Local History Society. July 2019 . Retrieved 8 August 2021.

History isn’t just about dates and events. It’s about human beings doing things to other human beings and I am completely compelled by this,” Anand says. We publish a Literature Newsletter when we have news and features on UK and international literature, plus opportunities for the industry to share. However, I never learned about Sophia Duleep Singh, a princess born into Indian royalty and god-daughter to Queen Victoria. Anand was then on maternity leave for the first of her two children (Hari,12 and Ravi, 8) with husband Simon Singh, a scientist and science writer. She became intrigued by the rare and forgotten Indian suffragette in this old photo. “Sophia Duleep Singh had this fascinating story, as the daughter of the last Sikh ruler of Punjab, Maharajah Duleep Singh — also the man who was compelled to hand over the Kohinoor to British forces. As a Punjabi myself, I felt I had to tell this story.” Anand has also written articles for India Today and The Asian Age newspaper, and used to write a regular column in The Guardian ("Anita Anand's Diary", 2004–2005 [10] [11]).

Anand, Anita (2015). Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1408835456.

Anand is a patron of the Richmond Society [17] and of the Museum of Richmond. [19] See also [ edit ]Gethin says: I think it's a book that everyone should have. It's a brutally honest account of how David Nott steps away from his day-to-day life as a general and vascular surgeon and goes to work in the heart of war zones around the world. It does go into quite graphic detail about situations, but also talks about the impact of his experiences and what he's learned. Manages to relate the complicated, fascinating and historically significant story of this woman’s life whilst being as easy to read as any novel. Well done! Vivid and compelling … Anand writes with the vigour and imaginative reach of a novelist. The many horrors of her enthralling narrative are lightened with judicious flashes of dry wit and a fine eye for detail … A gripping, emotionally powerful story