Sonia Gandhi memoir to open up on love, loss and public life from November 10

Sonia Gandhi's memoir Belonging: A Journey of Love will be published on November 10. It frames her private grief, family tragedies and reluctant political journey against a changing India.

In Short

• The 544-page book will release in hardcover, ebook and audio formats
• An initial print run of one lakh copies has been announced
• The narrative begins in Cambridge, where Sonia Maino met Rajiv Gandhi

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's 544-page memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, will be published on November 10, with Gandhi saying writing about her life meant opening up about deeply personal experiences. In a statement issued by publisher Alfred A Knopf on Tuesday, she said the book reflects on the heartbreak and loss that pulled her into public life.

"It was heartbreak and loss that threw me into the public world of politics. Up till then I had guarded my privacy fiercely," Gandhi said. She added, "Writing about my life did not come easily to me. It meant opening myself up, sharing moments and experiences I had always held deep inside."

The memoir will be released in hardcover and ebook by Knopf, while Penguin Random House will publish the audio edition. The publisher said the announced first printing is 100,000 copies.

Gandhi described the book as a "testament of my heart's journey through the tender joys and dark despair" that marked her life. She said much had been written about her family, but "few narratives were able to reach into the truth of their motivations, their actions and even their very human failings", adding that the book was "in many ways" a homage to their "humanness".

The memoir traces her journey from childhood in post-war Italy to life in India, where she married Rajiv Gandhi and became the daughter-in-law of then prime minister Indira Gandhi. Gandhi said that as she gradually moved away from politics and looked back, the "thread of love and loyalty" running through her life became clearer. She described that journey as a move from "the simplicity of my childhood in small-town Italy" to the complexity of later years in India.

The book begins in Cambridge, England, in 1965, where Sonia Maino, then 19, falls in love with Rajiv Gandhi. They married three years later. It recounts her introduction to Indira Gandhi, her efforts to learn Hindi, wear saris and enjoy Indian food, as well as the tragedies that hit the Gandhi family.

Rajiv Gandhi's younger brother Sanjay Gandhi died in a plane crash, and Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984. After his mother's death, Rajiv Gandhi became prime minister and was himself assassinated seven years later while campaigning. The memoir also covers Sonia Gandhi's eventual entry into politics after years of resisting pressure, and her decision in 2004 to decline the post of prime minister after the Congress-led alliance won the election.

Gandhi said her story also gives readers a perspective on the social and political changes she witnessed over six decades in India, describing it as "the beautiful country of my belonging". Knopf called the book an intimate account of her life and a story of love, family and India, set against the country's "tumultuous post-independence history and its present political struggles". The publisher also said it offers an insider's view of India's economic and social changes over six decades as Gandhi reflects on identity, duty and the meaning of home.

Knopf Executive Vice President, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jordan Pavlin said the publishing house was "honoured" to publish the memoir, describing it as an account of Gandhi's life, resilience, family and history. A description on Penguin Random House's website calls it a "surprising memoir" and says, "Most moving of all is the portrait of Sonia herself as she invites readers into her private world of joys and travails." Overall, the book brings together Gandhi's personal story, her family's tragedies, her entry into politics and her reflections on India over six decades.

With PTI Inputs

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