Shrabani Basu

rabck from hyphen8; set Mostly in England, a unsettling account of the Queen's friendship with an Indian servant and what uncomfortably felt like treating the emissaries from India as a circus spectacle. I felt bad for Abdul - was he really a social climber taking advantage of his status or did he have no real choice in his life. I'm reading some other books set during this time of "Britannia" and didn't realize that it was really the business - East India Trading Company - that got England involved with only some parts of India.… (meer)

This is the extraordinary story of the unlikeliest of friendships - that between an Empress and an unremarkable subject of hers; a friendship which the queen's family has striven, almost successfully, to wipe off the pages of history. It is also the story of a lonely, elderly queen's unwavering support of the only person she could connect to amidst the multitude of people of far higher stature surrounding her, in the face of unrelenting opposition from almost all of her Household and beyond.
As much as I was interested in reading about this unique friendship and the people trying to demolish it, I found this book a bit too dry, and very repetitive, which made it a tedious read. However, this thoroughly researched book certainly provides an intimate glimpse into the human side of Victoria - the queen of one of the most powerful empires in history.… (meer)

The life of Noor Inayat Khan was so filled with intrigue and drama that I was sadly disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this biography. It was such a dry, sere rendering that it didn’t do service to such a remarkable woman. Recruited by the British during WWII, her career as a spy was ended by her murder at the hands of the Gestapo. However, her actions were so noteworthy that just in 2020 did she receive one of those blue memorial plaque near her London home—the first Asian woman to receive the honor. https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.timesofindia.com/world/uk/world-war-ii-spy-first-...… (meer)