Excerpt from Indian Summer by Alex Von Tunzelmann, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

As darkness fell on 15 August 1947, Delhi’s Mughal Gardens glowed with thousands of tiny lights set among the jacaranda trees, and with hundreds of distinguished guests. Among the long avenues of gold mohur and flame-of-the-forest trees, princes chatted cordially to freedom fighters, and Hindu radicals to British soldiers. There was a sense of hope and magic, as two of the twentieth century’s greatest men fulfilled their ultimate ambitions. Nehru became leader of a free India, and Mountbatten played the role of a king—with Edwina as his queen. Few of the guests watching this display would have suspected that the celebration was about to be blown apart.

Copyright © 2007 by Alex von Tunzelmann. All rights reserved.