Indian Summer

An extraordinary story of romance history and divided loyalties -- set against the backdrop of one of the most dramatic events of the twentieth centuryThe 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 Alex von Tunzelmann''s 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.