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The Secret History of the End of an Empire
Henry Holt
August 2007
On Sale: August 7, 2007
416 pages
ISBN: 0805080732
EAN: 9780805080735
Hardcover
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Historical
An extraordinary story of romance, history, and divided
loyalties—set against the backdrop of one of the most
dramatic events of the twentieth century
The stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, liberated 400
million people from the British Empire. With the loss of
India, its greatest colony, Britain ceased to be a
superpower, and its king ceased to sign himself Rex Imperator. This defining moment of world history had been brought about
by a handful of people. Among them were Jawaharlal Nehru,
the fiery Indian prime minister; Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the
leader of the new Islamic Republic of Pakistan; Mohandas
Gandhi, the mystical figure who enthralled a nation; and
Louis and Edwina Mountbatten, the glamorous but unlikely
couple who had been dispatched to get Britain out of India.
Within hours of the midnight chimes, their dreams of freedom
and democracy would turn to chaos, bloodshed, and war. Behind the scenes, a secret personal drama was also
unfolding, as Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru began
a passionate love affair. Their romance developed alongside
Cold War conspiracies, the beginning of a terrible conflict
in Kashmir, and an epic sweep of events that saw one million
people killed and ten million dispossessed. Steeped in the private papers and reflections of the
participants, Indian Summer reveals, in vivid, exhilarating
detail, how the actions of a few extraordinary people
changed the lives of millions and determined the fate of
nations.
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