Indian summer: the secret history of the end of an empire

Abstract

The focus of the book, Indian Summer, is mainly on five persons, namely, Lord Mountbatten, Edwina Mountbatten, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Mohammad Ali Jinnah. It takes a deep look into their private lives and showing how they were influential in helping India to attain independence and how the events led to partition. It is also full of the anecdotes of the wrongs committed by the British officials and its consequences for them. Similarly, it tells about different roles played by different characters which finally led to the unpredictable and unwanted partition. The tragic events, resulting from migration, are highlighted as well. The author, very beautifully sums up the book when she says that on the midnight of August 15, 1947, 57-year old Jawaharlal Nehru looked younger, more energetic and enthusiastic than he had ever looked, when he uttered some of the most memorable and wonderful lines ever said: “Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny. And now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge; not wholly or in full, but substantially. At the stroke of midnight hour, while the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.” 1