Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary

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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 * Part II of the book describes Sophia's life as an activist, primarily as a suffragette. It gives a good picture of the later more militant part of the suffrage movement, specifically her involvement in the WSPU under Emmeline Pankhurst. Most of my reading about suffrage has been about the movement in the US, so the information was good, but the level of violence by the organization was a surprise to me, specifically the firebombing. Although Sophia didn't firebomb anything, she did participate in acts that resulted in arrest for others, but not for her because of her political visibility. Sophia was an important woman suffragette, a lover of dogs, a caring woman. Her oldest sister Bamba consistently bristled with antagonism. Catherine, the next oldest, settled herself with a female lover in Germany and never saw eye-to-eye over Sophia’s menagerie of dogs. Even if all three sisters and the brothers, Victor and Freddie and Eddie, were as different as siblings can be, they loved each other. You felt this. You see them spar against each other, grumble and joke. They are family, with all that implies. There are half-sisters too! You follow this entire family. The enthralling story of an extraordinary woman and her part in the defining moments of recent British Indian history The part of the book I found the most touching was a memory of the daughter of the elderly Princess' housekeeper.

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 In July 2011 Anand left the Daily Politics to present a new show called Double Take on Radio 5 Live on Sunday mornings. [7] In June 2012, Anand took over from Jonathan Dimbleby as the presenter of Radio 4's Any Answers? Saturday current affairs phone-in programme between 2:00 and 2:45pm. [8] Spruce up your springtime reading list with six brand-new recommendations for series six of Between the Covers. Six thrilling new book releasesSophia and her sisters were able to get to India as adults. The experience of meeting people fighting for Indian independence awoke the political consciousness of Sophia. She returned to England and threw herself into the fight of Women's Suffrage in the 1910s.

Bio of Indian suffragette Princess Sophia Duleep Singh. This is an absolutely amazing story. Sophia was the daughter of Duleep Singh, the last maharaja of the Sikh empire who was forced to sign over his power to the British Raj as a boy. She was brought up in England, god-daughter of Queen, yet still treated like a second class citizen, and she found her purpose in fighting alongside the suffragettes. She tried her hardest to get arrested, used her power for publicity, and then when war broke out she made a spectacular contribution to funds for sepoys (Indian soldiers, grossly underequipped by the British) and worked as a nurse for Sikh soldiers. All this while suffering from lifelong and dreadful depression and a spectacularly terrible family life. This is an exceptional book highlighting parts of British social, political and economic history through the life of Sophia Duleep Singh. Eager to tell more South Asian stories, I began screenwriting a few years ago and am working on my first series. Trying to repurpose obstacles into vaulting poles has become my new strategy, and this is exactly what the subject of my upcoming writing project, Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, did 100 years ago. As the daughter of the last Maharajah of Punjab, and goddaughter of Queen Victoria, Sophia’s life was nothing short of extraordinary: her actions so bold and anarchic that the press were urged to keep them under wraps lest it cause a royal scandal and tarnish the British crown. A wonderfully written story about Sophia Duleep Singh, starting with her grandfather, a legendary early-19-century Sikh maharajah of the Punjab region of India. The story starts there and continues with internal family troubles and the British takeover of the kingdom from Sophia's preteen father, which is relevant considering how those events affect Sophia's upbrining and the way others--both British and from her family's former kingdom--treat her. It's also very well told, as is the rest of the story of Sophia's childhood, family relationships, her busy but mostly unfulfilling early adulthood, and the changes that world travel and meeting people spark in her life.The book is filled with the prominent figures of late 19th and early 20th century Britain. Sophia's brother Victor was a close friend of Lord Carnarvon (who sponsored the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb) and Sophia herself worked closely with the suffragette leader Emmaline Pankhurst. Sophia's social circle also included suffragettes who are little known today but were influential in their times.

After training as a journalist, Anand became European Head of News and Current Affairs for Zee TV, and one of the youngest TV news editors in Britain at the age of 25. [5] She presented the talk show The Big Debate and was political correspondent for Zee TV presenting the Raj Britannia series – 31 documentaries chronicling the political aspirations of the Asian community in the most marginal constituencies in 1997. Miss Anand writes extremely well. Whilst it is clear that she respects and admires her subject, her writing does not appear to me to be sycophantic; certainly, Sophia is not presented as a paragon of virtue but as committed, caring but sometimes a little eccentric and irascible individual seeking a role in life in a country determined to deny her one.

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The audiobook narration by Tania Rodrigues was superb. The accent was British, utterly delightful and easy to follow. I did have trouble with the Indian names, but this never became a problem. The written book and the narration both get five stars. This is Anand’s mission, as she sees it: To serve as a record-keeper and record-corrector. It’s a role she plays in her two other books, The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge and the Raj (2019; released to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar), and Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond (2017; co-authored with Dalrymple); and in her fourth, an upcoming work on Olive Christian Malvery (1871-1914), known as the world’s first woman undercover journalist. “She was also of Indian origin. She exposed the terrible practices in work offices, factories, markets and anywhere women were employed and exploited. She was brave, intrepid and everything I like in a character,” Anand says. From the debris of her father’s defalcated dynasty (a Game of Thrones-esque story in itself), Sophia channelled her fury into becoming the patron saint of the underdog. She built shelters for neglected migrant workers, treated wounded Indian soldiers (more than a million of whom fought for Britain in the First World War), and battled for the advancement of women both British and Indian. She was born to first-generation Punjabi immigrants to the UK. Her late father Dr Chaitenya Anand, a general practitioner, raised her with a sense of how vital it was to know who you are. “He encouraged me to examine our history,” she says. Her mother Shashi Anand, a retired teacher, “is the best storyteller, a fabulous mimic. I think my desire to tell stories comes from her.” 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!

We'd be walking, and she'd be telling me about the world and elections and how important they were. And then she would kneel down in front of me, looking me right in the eye and say 'I want a solemn promise from you' even though I don't think I knew what a solemn promise was at that stage. She would say 'You are never, ever not to vote. You must promise me. When you are allowed to vote you are never, ever to fail to do so. You don't realise how far we've come. Promise me.' For the next three years, Sophia made Drovna promise again and again." 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]).

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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. 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 The biography is well written. It is readable and engrossing. Most importantly it includes just the right level of historical detail (on the operation of the Raj, the burgeoning Indian independence movement and the Suffragette movement) alongside the biographical detail to keep the account hugely informative (the book would for example serve as an inside account of each of those areas in its own right) while not detracting from the central story.