French combines his lifelong passion, India, with his scholarly interest ... a fascinating anaylsis, revealing a deeper truth. - Salil Tripathi The Independent It is a funny, witty book; also dense, gripping, thrilling. What blazes through from each page is French's absolute and uncondescending engagement with India - Neel Mukherjee The Times Wide-ranging, clear-sighted, warm-hearted and immensely readable - Nirpal Dhaliwal Evening Standard French is a fine reporter, with an appealing fascination for all things Indian ... an accomplished portrait of momentous times in a remarkable country Economist Admirable ... There are many Indias, and Patrick French sets out, with enthusiasm and empathy, to encounter as many as he can find - David Gilmour Spectator Mr. French compresses 63 years of post-independence history into 450-odd pages fizzing with wit, insight and infectious curiosity ... a riveting read, and one suspects that Mr. French could not pen a boring passage if he tried. - Sadanand Dhume Wall Street Journal

Patrick French is the author of Younghusband, Liberty or Death, Tibet, Tibet and The World Is What It Is. His books have won the Somerset Maugham Award, the Royal Society of Literature W.H. Heinemann Prize, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Hawthornden Prize.