Book Review: The Last Queen – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Spring 2022
Book Review: The Last Queen – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s latest novel The Last Queen (2021) depicts the turbulent life of Maharani Jind Kaur (c.1817-1863), Queen Regent of the Sikh Empire (1843-1846). Narrated chronologically, it offers a fictional representation of Rani Jindan’s childhood, her courtship and marriage to Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839), the brief and mercurial reigns of his successors, the wresting of Punjab from the hands of Rani Jindan and then her son, Maharaja Dalip Singh, and her subsequent exile in Nepal and later, Britain.

Reviewed by Nazia Akhtar – Assistant Professor, Human Sciences Research Group
International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad

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