Victoria & Abdul (46 page)
Authors: Shrabani Basu
‘A most unusual friendship, one that, however divisive it had been, had brought comfort to a lonely Queen in the twilight years of her reign.’
Daily Mail
‘Racy and well researched.’
Shashi Tharoor
‘Shrabani Basu has written a charming, lively and rigorous narrative of the complex relationship between a slightly dotty Queen and a slippery Indian from Agra.’
Swapan Dasgupta,
Outlook Magazine
‘A fascinating book, full of colourful details and Shakespearean characters … Shrabani Basu does not just write biographies, she creates drama.’
Girish Karnad
‘A charming tale which should have been told before.’
Stephen Halliday,
BBC History Magazine
‘Shrabani Basu has done a commendable job in digging up relevant material to write this book. It is totally absorbing.’
Khushwant Singh,
The Telegraph
‘If this had been the plot of a novel, it would have been dismissed as foolishly far-fetched. But
Victoria & Abdul
is fact rather than fiction, and there lies its power.’
The Times of India
‘Shrabani Basu’s book convincingly conveys how a loyal slave who understood his mistresses’ loneliness became her passage to India.’
The Asian Age
‘A masterfully told story that is a melange of history, drama and fantasy.’
The Dawn
Cover Illustrations
:(front) study of portrait of Abdul Karim, 1891 (courtesy of Reid Archives); Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee portrait (The Royal Collection © 2009 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II).
First published 2011
The History Press
The Mill, Brimscombe Port
Stroud, Gloucestershire,
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This ebook edition first published in 2011
All rights reserved
© Shrabani Basu, 2011
The right of Shrabani Basu to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
EPUB ISBN
978 0 7524 6366 7
MOBI ISBN
978 0 7524 6367 4
Original typesetting by The History Press