{"product_id":"kohinoor-9781408888827","title":"KohiNoor","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e''\u003cb\u003eRiveting. This highly readable and entertaining book ... finally sets the record straight on the history of the Koh-i-Noor\u003c\/b\u003e'' Tarquin Hall, \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''\u003cb\u003eDynamic, original and supremely readable\u003c\/b\u003e'' Maya Jasanoff, \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first comprehensive and authoritative history of the Koh-i-Noor, arguably the most celebrated and mythologised jewel in the world.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn 29 March 1849, the ten-year-old maharaja of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over great swathes of the richest country in India in a formal Act of Submission to a private corporation, the East India Company. He was also compelled to hand over to the British monarch, Queen Victoria, perhaps the single most valuable object on the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe history of the Koh-i-Noor may ha\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eExtraordinary\u003c\/b\u003e. William Dalrymple and Anita Anand have found previously ignored and untranslated Persian and Afghan sources to give us fresh information\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRiveting.\u003c\/b\u003e Dalrymple and Anand present \u003cb\u003eas evocative a rendering as the most enthralling bazaar storyteller\u003c\/b\u003e while providing an astute and empathetic study of the historical landscape through which the diamond has made its troubled way … This \u003cb\u003ehighly readable and entertaining\u003c\/b\u003e book ... finally sets the record straight on the history of the Koh-i-Noor -- Tarquin Hall * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDalrymple and Anand’s tale is a writer’s gift\u003c\/b\u003e -- Robert Leigh-Pemberton * Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eThe history of the many who have coveted the diamond is long and involved, full of wonder and awe, treachery and bloodshed * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eDalrymple tracks its tortuous journey across the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan to its arrival in the Punjabi treasury; Anand tells the subsequent story of British ownership. Their two narratives are \u003cb\u003eneatly spliced and stylistically harmonious\u003c\/b\u003e ***** -- Matthew Dennison * Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003e[Dalrymple and Anand] have a real story to tell … for anyone with a taste for that classic blend of blood and bling, for “oceans of pearls and gold” and hecatombs of severed heads, for monstrous heaps of eyeballs – 20,000 of them – and precious stones “in quantities that beggar all description” \u003cb\u003ethis is an oriental \u003ci\u003eGames of Thrones – \u003c\/i\u003eDalrymple’s own reference – in spades\u003c\/b\u003e -- David Crane * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMeticulously researched and brilliantly written\u003c\/b\u003e ... In fewer than 300 quick-reading pages, Dalrymple and Anand bust myth after myth -- Jon Wilson * BBC History Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eDalrymple tells this complicated story with \u003cb\u003everve and admirable brevity\u003c\/b\u003e, drawing on a wide range of literature and memoirs. He paints a picture in which \u003cb\u003eelegance and refinement are married to treachery and hideous brutality\u003c\/b\u003e … This is a book which anyone interested in 19th century India and Indio-British relations will want to read -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *\u003cbr\u003eGruesome and ceaselessly dramatic * Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eFor all that the Koh-i-Noor may be a doubtful best friend, \u003cb\u003ethere is no doubting the fascination of its story, told so engagingly here\u003c\/b\u003e -- John Ure * Country Life *\u003cbr\u003eKoh-i-Noor \u003cb\u003eoffers memorable tales of Indian courtly intrigue and violence\u003c\/b\u003e, and explores the shifting fortunes of South Asian dynasties, the consolidation of British power in the subcontinent, and the British monarchy during and after Queen Victoria’s reign * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eDalrymple and Anand \u003cb\u003ebring every stage of the Koh-i-Noor’s turbulent past to life\u003c\/b\u003e. It is an \u003cb\u003eutterly fascinating \u003c\/b\u003estory, revealing the nature of power through the history of one of its most potent symbols -- Lucy Moore * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eIn this vivid history of one of the world’s most celebrated gemstones, the Indian diamond known as the \u003ci\u003eKoh-i-Noor\u003c\/i\u003e, Anita Anand and William Dalrymple put an inventive twist on the old maxim. “Follow the diamond,” they realise, and it can lead into \u003cb\u003ea dynamic, original and supremely readable history of empires\u003c\/b\u003e -- Maya Jasanoff * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eThe fascinating story of this enormous jewel, currently kept in the Tower of London, is told in a \u003cb\u003ecompelling new book\u003c\/b\u003e by Radio 4’s Anita Anand (Any Answers) and historian William Dalrymple … The book comes out on June 15 and \u003cb\u003eI can’t wait to get my hands on it\u003c\/b\u003e -- Richard and Judy * Daily Express *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Dalrymple is to non-fiction what JK Rowling is to fiction \u003c\/b\u003e... This joint project with Anita Anand is bound to fly off the shelves as quickly as readers can devour it * Bookseller *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48866826584407,"sku":"9781408888827","price":13.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781408888827.jpg?v=1722280169","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/kohinoor-9781408888827","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}