Sophia
- Author Anita Anand
- Narrator Tania Rodrigues
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
- Run Time 17 hours and 10 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Biography and non-fiction prose, Biography: historical, political and military, General and world history, History.
Titles Purchased
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- 6-10
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Price p/Title
- €9.95
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What to expect
'Sophia 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' William Dalrymple
'A fascinating and elegantly written life of one of the unknown giants of women's suffrage' Katie Hickman, author of Daughters of Britannia
The enthralling story of an extraordinary woman and her part in the defining moments of recent British Indian history
Winner of the Eastern Eye Alchemy Festival Award for Literature
In 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.
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.
Sophia 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.
Critics Review
-
Sophia 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
William Dalrymple -
Anita Anand’s gripping book is a sad story of dispossession and dislocation … The story is fast-paced and thrilling … A noble book ****
Daily Telegraph -
A fascinating and elegantly written life of one of the unknown giants of women’s suffrage
Katie Hickman, author of Daughters of Britannia -
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
New Statesman -
A groundbreaking work that at last tells the important story of Sophia Duleep Singh: unflinching princess-in-exile, doughty moderniser and tenacious suffragette. From the streets of India to the corridors of power, Sophia artfully examines the tensions between East and West; and one woman’s choice between fighting for freedom and staying silent
Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire -
Anita Anand has definitively restored to history one of the most important and charismatic figures in the suffragette movement. This thoroughly absorbing and deftly informative account instantly pulled me into the irresistible adventure and vitality of Sophia Duleep Singh’s defiant and innovative existence. Anand’s timely biography is a wonderful testament to Sophia’s lifetime of commitment to Indian independence and the advancement of women, and to the range and courage of her achievements
Rachel Holmes, author of Eleanor Marx
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