WINNER OF THE DUFF COOPER MEMORIAL PRIZE | LONGLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 'Indispensable reading on both India and the Empire' Daily Telegraph 'Brims with life, colour and complexity . . . outstanding' Evening Standard 'A compulsively readable masterpiece' Brian Urquhart, The New York Review of Books A stunning and bloody history of nineteenth-century India and the reign of the Last Mughal. In May 1857 India's flourishing capital became the centre of the bloodiest rebellion the British Empire had ever faced. Once a city of cultural brilliance and learning, Delhi was reduced to a battered, empty ruin, and its ruler – Bahadur Shah Zafar II, the last of the Great Mughals – was thrown into exile. The Siege of Delhi was the Raj's Stalingrad: a fight to the death between two powers, neither of whom could retreat. The Last Mughal tells the story of the doomed Mughal capital, its tragic destruction, and the individuals caught up in one of the most terrible upheavals in history, as an army mutiny was transformed into the largest anti-colonial uprising to take place anywhere in the world in the entire course of the nineteenth century.

`If you?re being raped, call your perpetrator ?bhaiya? and he will stop.? Asaram Bapu, `holyman?. `Chowmein and fast food causes rapes.? ? Haryana Khap Panchayat. '(Some) Women protesting rape are dented and painted.?? Abhijit Mukherjee, The President's son. Ladies: throw away your pepper sprays. You don?t need them as long as your lips are armed with the potent word, `bhaiya?. Fire at will. Don?t eat fast food. Eating needs you to use your mouth in front of men, which is just `asking for it?. Always agree to any man?s sexual proposition ? just say, `Yes?, to everyone. Most importantly, before making any wardrobe choices do consult with the President?s son. He?s never too busy to help you out with his insightful fashion tips. OR, ignore these wise words and go out and kick men like that in the grapes and fight back. That?s what I do. This is that story. The story of Tanya Bisht, over and under Delhi.

On 31 August 2008, Sister Jesme left the Congregation of Mother of Carmel. The authorities repeated attempts to have her declared insane, she says, left her no other option. This book, a first of its kind in India, is an outpouring of her experiences as a nun for thirty-three years. Spirited and fun-loving, from a good family, deeply-rooted in Catholicism, Jesme was drawn to religious life at seventeen after a Retreat at junior college. As a nun, seven years later, she felt distressed at the many ills growing inside the convent and being forced to remain silent about them. There was corruption, by way of donations for college seats; sexual relations between some priests and nuns, and between nuns; class distinctions whereby the cheduthies, or poorer and less-educated sisters, did menial jobs; and a wide gap between comforts and facilities enjoyed by the priests and nuns. Jesme was permitted to complete her doctorate in English Literature, to pursue her passion for literature, cinema and teaching college students. She exposed them to classic films, believing that aesthetics enhances spirituality. But these joys were clouded by the troubles she faced. Searing, sincere, and sensitive, Amen is a plea for a reformation of the Church and comes at a time of its growing concern about nuns and priests. It affirms Jesme’s unbroken spirit and faith in Jesus and the Church, living like a nun, but outside the Four Walls of the convent.