About this item
Highlights
- The history of an Indian royal family's fall from power in the age of the British Empire.The Nawab Nazim was born into one of India's most powerful royal families, whose kingdom was three times the size of Great Britain.
- About the Author: Lyn Innes is the great-granddaughter of His Royal Highness, the last Nawab Nizam of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
- 352 Pages
- Biography + Autobiography, Royalty
Description
About the Book
The history of an Indian royal family's fall from power in the age of the British Empire.Book Synopsis
The history of an Indian royal family's fall from power in the age of the British Empire.The Nawab Nazim was born into one of India's most powerful royal families, whose kingdom was three times the size of Great Britain. However, seen as a threat by the British authorities, he was forced to abdicate in 1880, his titles permanently abolished. The Nawab's change in fortune marked the end of an era in India.The Last Prince of Bengal tells the true story of the Nawab and his family as they sought by turns to befriend, settle in and eventually escape Britain. From glamourous receptions with Queen Victoria to a scandalous marriage with an English chambermaid; and from Bengal tiger hunts to sheep farming in the harsh Australian outback, Lyn Innes recounts her ancestors' extraordinary journey from royalty to relative anonymity.Visiting the extremes of British rule in the age of empire, this is the compelling and intimate story of one family and their place in the defining moments of recent Indian, British and Australian history.
Review Quotes
'The book is a rich tapestry of family narrative in the course of which various intolerances of nation, ethnicity, class and gender are woven into a story that is deft, alive to irony, and alert to many human foibles - it is a work in which intellectual audacity is matched by sound research and textual scruple. The result is a masterpiece of patient, lucid analysis ... a spellbinding family history.' Declan Kiberd, The Irish Times
'A fascinating insightinto the British Raj in India ... Innes shows with unsettling effect how
historical prejudices are still prevalent in modern times.' Asian Review of Books
'An
eye-opening saga not only for its compelling plot but also for the truths it
uncovers about the British Empire and the injustices faced by millions as a
result of their regime.' Indian Link
'I was captivated and surprised by this bitter-sweet history as it twists and turns down three generations, through many astonishing changes of fame and fortune, from a glittering Bengal palace to an Australian sheep farm. Lovingly researched and meticulously told, The Last Prince of Bengal is notable for its candid revelations of British colonial attitudes and hypocrisies across two centuries. A rich, delightful and unexpectedly thought-provoking saga.' Richard Holmes
'Lyn Innes explores her ancestors' history in moving detail, capturing the tragic story of the dethroned princes of Bengal who had to make their lives in foreign lands, marked forever by the harsh legacy of Empire.' Shrabani Basu, author of Victoria and Abdul: The Extraordinary True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidante
'Written with clarity, wit and imagination, this family history offers fascinating insights into social status sensibilities in the age of empire.' Gardner Thompson, author of Legacy of Empire: Britain, Zionism and the Creation of Israel
'Lyn Innes tells her extraordinary and engrossing personal family history, revealing the ways in which the British Empire brought lives together, and scattered people apart. The Last Prince of Bengal tells us about the multitude histories we carry within, and the humiliations that race, class and faith perpetuate.' Salil Tripathi, author of The Colonel Who Would Not Repent: The Bangladesh War and its Unquiet Legacy
About the Author
Lyn Innes is the great-granddaughter of His Royal Highness, the last Nawab Nizam of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Born and educated in Australia, she moved to North America and developed her interest in cultural nationalism, focusing on Irish, African, African American and Caribbean literatures. She earned a PhD from Cornell University and taught at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she became associate editor of OKIKE: An African Journal of New Writing, founded by Chinua Achebe. Innes co-edited two volumes of African short stories with Achebe. Innes is currently Emeritus Professor of Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Kent, Canterbury.