Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 28: The Penguin Random House India (PRHI) is learnt to have dropped the proposal to publish the much-anticipated memoirs of the Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, ‘Belonging: a Journey of Love,’ after the author refused to accept certain “editorial changes and deletions” in the manuscript suggested by the publisher.
Following reports in a section of the media about the publisher’s change of mind, the PRHI on Friday categorically stated, the “PRHI is not the publisher of ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’, Sonia Gandhi’s upcoming memoir, in India.” The statement from Penguin comes amid reports that the publisher backed out after Sonia Gandhi refused “editorial” changes.
“Penguin Random House India is not the publisher of Belonging in India. Any suggestion that Penguin Random House India decided not to publish Belonging because the author declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances,” the company said in a statement.
The publisher did acknowledge that they were “keen to publish the book,” adding that it was their responsibility to fact check authors and provide recommendations, hinting at the discussion around the book with Sonia Gandhi. “As a publisher, it is both our prerogative and our responsibility to fact check and provide authors with recommendations that are in the best interests of their books. This is a normal part of the publishing process,” the statement said.
With Penguin India out, several Indian publishers are now in the fray and HarperCollins is reported to be close to finalising the agreement to publish and distribute the book in India.
The release of the book by the PRHI was scheduled for November 10. It was first announced by US-based Alfred A Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House. Knopf had added that the first print run for the title would be 100,000 copies. Ms Sonia Gandhi had previously authored and edited other books but this, according to those who have worked on it, is her most personal and definitive account of her life. Knopf has called it a “riveting memoir by one of the world’s most prominent women leaders that tells a richly engaging story of love, family, and an endlessly fascinating country: India.”
Knopf’s release quoted Sonia Gandhi saying: “Much has been written about my family, but few narratives were able to reach into the truth of their motivations, their actions and even their human failings…My story also offers readers a unique perspective of the social and political changes I have witnessed for six decades in the beautiful country of my belonging.”
Claiming that the PRHI was “keen” to publish the book, it refused to divulge the details of the discussion with the author, the changes and deletions suggested and refused by her. “Throughout the relevant discussions, Penguin Random House India’s position was that we remained willing and keen to publish the book. We will not comment further on confidential discussions with the author,” the statement added.
In “Belonging,” Sonia Gandhi writes of her life being upended when her mother-in-law is assassinated in 1984 and succeeded by Rajiv Gandhi who seven years later was also murdered. Sonia Gandhi eventually entered politics and became the longest-serving president of the Congress while also turning down her party’s offer to become prime minister. Her party lost power to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP in 2014.
“It was heartbreak and loss that threw me into the public world of politics. Up till then I had guarded my privacy fiercely,” she said in her statement. “Writing about my life did not come easily to me. It meant opening myself up, sharing moments and experiences I had always held deep inside,” she said. “Yet as I gradually removed myself from the political sphere and looked back at all I had seen, the thread of love and loyalty that wove through my story began to define itself, from the simplicity of my childhood in small-town Italy, to the complexity of my years in India as the wife of Rajiv Gandhi and the daughter-in-law of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.”