The Black Princess

Author: Maggie Voysey Paun,
Publisher: Moonlight Publishers
(Pp 326, ISBN 978-81-9363-136-2, Rs 350)

The Black Princess is based on a true story. The book is about Helena Bennett, who lives alone in the remote Sussex countryside. Her neighbours know her as an eccentric old woman who roams the forest with her beloved dog, isgenerous to the poor, and smokes a hookah. They call her ‘The Black Princess’, although she is not verydark-skinned nor of Royal birth.

It is spring 1853 when a chance visitor causes Helena to begin to recall her early life. Through her eyes, the reader is transported to 1785 at the British Residency in Lucknow, India, a city renowned for its hybrid culture, the excesses of the ruling Nawab, and the avarice of some of the East India Companyofficers. Beautifully written, the book gives vivid description of the bygone era.

– Vasu V