{"title":"Books by ANITA ANAND","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781408888827","title":"Koh-i-Noor","description":"\u003cp\u003e‘\u003cb\u003eRiveting. This highly readable and entertaining book ... finally sets the record straight on the history of the Koh-i-Noor\u003c\/b\u003e’ Tarquin Hall, \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003cb\u003eDynamic, original and supremely readable\u003c\/b\u003e’ Maya Jasanoff, \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first comprehensive and authoritative history of the Koh-i-Noor, arguably the most celebrated and mythologised jewel in the world.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn 29 March 1849, the ten-year-old maharaja of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over great swathes of the richest country in India in a formal Act of Submission to a private corporation, the East India Company. He was also compelled to hand over to the British monarch, Queen Victoria, perhaps the single most valuable object on the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe history of the Koh-i-Noor may have been one woven together from gossip of Delhi bazaars, but it was to become the accepted version. Only now is it finally challenged, freeing the diamond from the fog of mythology that has clung to it for so long. The resulting history is one of greed, murder, torture, colonialism and appropriation told through an impressive slice of south and central Asian history. It ends with the jewel in its current controversial setting: in the crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, which was deemed too contentious to be used by Camilla, the Queen Consort, in King Charles’s coronation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMasterly, powerful and erudite, this is history at its most compelling and invigorating.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204369023154,"sku":"9781408888827","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781408888827.jpg?v=1786019407"},{"product_id":"9781408835470","title":"Sophia","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e**By the presenter of the hit podcast EMPIRE**\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e**The subject of a major exhibition at Kensington Palace throughout 2026 - \u003ci\u003eThe Last Princesses of the Punjab\u003c\/i\u003e **\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Sophia\u003c\/i\u003e is the sort of remarkable, almost unbelievable untold true story that every writer dreams of chancing upon. A wonderful debut, written with real spirit and gusto. Anita Anand has produced a winner' \u003c\/b\u003eWilliam Dalrymple\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A fascinating and elegantly written life of one of the unknown giants of women's suffrage' \u003c\/b\u003eKatie Hickman, author of \u003ci\u003eDaughters of Britannia\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe enthralling story of an extraordinary woman and her part in the defining moments of recent British Indian history\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Eastern Eye Alchemy Festival Award for Literature\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1876 Sophia Duleep Singh was born into royalty. Her father, Maharajah Duleep Singh, was heir to the Kingdom of the Sikhs, a realm that stretched from the lush Kashmir Valley to the craggy foothills of the Khyber Pass and included the mighty cities of Lahore and Peshawar. It was a territory irresistible to the British, who plundered everything, including the fabled Koh-I-Noor diamond. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Exiled to England, the dispossessed Maharajah transformed his estate at Elveden in Suffolk into a Moghul palace, its grounds stocked with leopards, monkeys and exotic birds. Sophia, god-daughter of Queen Victoria, was raised a genteel aristocratic Englishwoman: presented at court, afforded grace-and-favour lodgings at Hampton Court Palace and photographed wearing the latest fashions for the society pages. But when, in secret defiance of the British government, she travelled to India, she returned a revolutionary.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSophia transcended her heritage to devote herself to battling injustice and inequality,a far cry from the life to which she was born. Her causes were the struggle for Indian independence, the fate of the Lascars, the welfare of Indian soldiers in the First World War – and, above all, the fight for female suffrage. She was bold and fearless, attacking politicians, putting herself in the front line and swapping her silks for a nurse's uniform to tend wounded soldiers evacuated from the battlefields. Meticulously researched and passionately written, this enthralling story of the rise of women and the fall of empire introduces an extraordinary individual and her part in the defining moments of recent British and Indian history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204372201650,"sku":"9781408835470","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781408835470_e2b8cd49-5996-48ad-b817-3c4295f9f653.jpg?v=1786019829"},{"product_id":"9781471174247","title":"The Patient Assassin","description":"\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Reads like something from a thriller\u003c\/b\u003e…\u003cb\u003ecolourful, detailed and meticulously researched' \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘Gripping from start to finish' Peter Frankopan, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Silk Roads\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eHundreds of peaceful civilians were slaughtered in the Amritsar Massacre of 13 April 1919, after British troops opened fire without warning. According to legend, Udham Singh was among the injured that day, and he vowed to take revenge. More than twenty years later, in a Westminster hall, he fulfilled that promise when he gunned down in cold blood the man ultimately responsible, Sir Michael O'Dwyer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But what happened in the intervening years? In this sweeping narrative that takes the reader across four continents, Anita Anand separates reality from myth to reveal Singh's astonishing story. She brilliantly pieces together his movements, discovering surprising new links that take us from Jazz Age New York to the shady world of international spy rings. \u003ci\u003eThe Patient Assassin \u003c\/i\u003eshines a devastating light on one of the Raj's most horrific events, but reads like a taut thriller.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204439769266,"sku":"9781471174247","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781471174247_b90e3e09-7309-44a1-ba32-254259d447b6.jpg?v=1786020635"},{"product_id":"olive-undercover-ha","title":"OLIVE UNDERCOVER HA","description":null,"brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57503586353525,"sku":"9781398517479","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"olive-undercover-tr","title":"OLIVE UNDERCOVER TR","description":null,"brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57503587172725,"sku":"9781398517486","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"olive-undercover-pa","title":"OLIVE UNDERCOVER PA","description":null,"brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57503587828085,"sku":"9781398517509","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-anita-anand.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}