Title: Maharanis
Subtitle: The Extraordinary Tale of Four Indian Queens and Their Journey from Purdah to Parliament
First published: 1991
Description: A rare, exotic portrait of the matriarchs of a brilliant Indian familyRanging from the final days of the Raj and the British Empire to the present, Lucy Moore vividly re-creates a splendid lost world and describes India's national growing pains through the sumptuous, audacious lives of four ravishing, influential women of the same family—Sunity Devi, friend to Queen Victoria; Chimnabai, fierce nationalist; Indira, her flamboyant daughter; and Ayesha, her equally fashionable daughter—who fought tirelessly and with incomparable grace to turn an ancient tradition of noblesse oblige into a progressive democracy. BACKCOVER: "Scintillating. Moore revels in every detail—from the elegance of the maharanis' attire, to the complexities of Indian family life and politics, to the trauma and heroism of breaking with tradition."—Booklist (starred review)"A fascinating picture of a vanished world."—Sarah Bradford, author of Lucrezia Borgia
Subjects: Nonfiction, Queens, History, Biography, India, history, 20th century, India, biography
Places: India
Time periods: 20th century