Victoria  Abdul Movie Tiein, Shrabani Basu
Victoria  Abdul Movie Tiein, Shrabani Basu
78 Rating(s)
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Victoria & Abdul (Movie Tie-in)
The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant

Author: Shrabani Basu

Narrator: Elizabeth Jasicki

Unabridged: 11 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/29/2017


Synopsis

Now a Major Motion Picture starring Dame Judi Dench from director Stephen Frears.

History’s most unlikely friendship—this is the astonishing story of Queen Victoria and her dearest companion, the young Indian Munshi Abdul Karim.

In the twilight years of her reign, after the devastating deaths of her two great loves—Prince Albert and John Brown—Queen Victoria meets tall and handsome Abdul Karim, a humble servant from Agra waiting tables at her Golden Jubilee. The two form an unlikely bond and within a year Abdul becomes a powerful figure at court, the Queen’s teacher, her counsel on Urdu and Indian affairs, and a friend close to her heart. This marked the beginning of the most scandalous decade in Queen Victoria’s long reign. As the royal household roiled with resentment, Victoria and Abdul’s devotion grew in defiance. Drawn from secrets closely guarded for more than a century, Victoria & Abdul is an extraordinary and intimate history of the last years of the nineteenth-century English court and an unforgettable view onto the passions of an aging Queen.

About Shrabani Basu

Shrabani Basu has been the London correspondent for the Ananda Bazar Patrika group since 1988, writing for Sunday, Ananda Bazar Patrika, and the Telegraph. Basu has appeared on radio and TV in the UK and founded the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust for the WWII heroine, which was unveiled in 2012. She is the author of Curry: The Story of the Nation's Favorite Dish, Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan, and Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Leslie on September 14, 2017

I can easily see why someone who has never heard about the friendship between Victoria and Abdul would find this book so engaging. It WAS an unexpected and fascinating friendship -- the queen's loyalty to him despite her family and staff's extreme dislike for him was truly remarkable. Basu does a co......more

Goodreads review by Adam on August 03, 2013

In about 1886, Queen Victoria acquired a number of paid Indian servants, mostly from Agra. They were employed to serve at her dining tables. She found them interesting and on the whole charming. One of them, Abdul Karim, soon became her favourite. She adopted him as her personal secretary. After a s......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie on May 14, 2018

This novel drove me crazy. At first, it was very dry and factual, which was fine with me after two rather stressful horror novels. I was using this novel as a palate cleanser, of sorts. But the petty jealousies, racism, classism, and bullshit that the *entire* household staff (support and care system......more


Quotes

"A tale of Empire and intrigue, brought vividly back to life." --Vikas Swarup, author of Slumdog Millionaire

"If this had been the plot of a novel, it would have been dismissed as foolishly far-fetched. But Victoria & Abdul is fact rather than fiction, and therein lies its power."--The Times of India

"A charming tale which should have been told before."--Stephen Halliday, BBC History Magazine

"A book so startling that it changes your view of the world. One of the great love stories of all time."--Phillip Knightley, Khaleej Times