New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi’s long-awaited memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, hits bookshops in India and around the world today, November 10. The 544-page book, published in India by HarperCollins India and globally by Alfred A. Knopf, traces her journey from a small town in post-war Italy to the centre of Indian politics, and it arrives after a publishing saga and a political row that have already made it one of the most talked-about books of the year.
For a leader who has spent decades guarding her privacy, the memoir is a rare opening up. Gandhi has described it as a personal account, not a political one, and the book covers the love, loss and sense of duty that shaped her life. The first print run is 100,000 copies, a number that underlines how much interest the book is expected to draw.
What is in the book
The memoir begins in Orbassano, the small town in the Veneto region of Italy where Sonia Maino grew up in the years after the Second World War. From there it moves to Cambridge, where she met Rajiv Gandhi in 1965, and then to India, the country she eventually came to call home.
Readers will find the family story told from the inside: her marriage into the Nehru-Gandhi family, her relationship with her mother-in-law, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, and the tragedies that shaped the family, including the death of Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash, Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991.
The book also covers her reluctant entry into politics and her years at the helm of the Congress, where she became one of India’s longest-serving political figures. Gandhi has said the memoir is about portraying her family honestly, as people she knew and loved, with their human flaws intact.
A rocky road to the shelves
Getting the book into Indian shops took some doing. Penguin Random House India was initially expected to publish the memoir in India, but on August 28 it announced that it would not be the book’s Indian publisher. HarperCollins India stepped in and announced in early September that it would publish the book on November 10.
Gandhi later broke her silence on the episode, telling The Guardian that Penguin had been uneasy with the book’s criticism of the government. She said she was disappointed, but not surprised, by the publisher’s decision. An audio edition of the memoir will be published by Penguin Random House.
Interest in the book has been building for weeks. Gandhi joined X last week and shared a video offering a glimpse of the memoir, and her first Instagram post in October showed the book itself, with a caption calling it a story of love, duty, loss and finding a place to belong.
The row before release
The memoir was already making headlines before a single copy went on sale. In an interview with The Hindu published on November 7, Gandhi said the BJP-led government had done “great damage” to India’s democratic fabric and its institutions over the past 12 years, and alleged that many elections had been stolen.
The BJP hit back within hours, accusing Gandhi of trying to justify the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975. Gandhi, for her part, has insisted the book itself is personal rather than political. “This is not a political book, it’s a personal one,” she said.
The exchange sets the tone for the days ahead. With the book now in the shops, its passages on the Emergency, on the Congress years and on the Modi government are likely to be picked over closely by both supporters and critics.
What happens next
The memoir is available in hardcover and ebook formats from today, and the audio edition will follow. Whether it becomes a bestseller will depend on readers, but the early signs point to strong demand: the first printing, the pre-release interviews and the political storm around it have already put Belonging at the top of the conversation.
For the Congress, the book is also a moment to revisit its own story through the eyes of the woman who led it for nearly two decades. For everyone else, it is a rare, first-person account of a life lived at the heart of modern Indian history.
FAQs
When is Sonia Gandhi’s memoir releasing?
Belonging: A Journey of Love releases on November 10, 2026, in India and worldwide.
Who is publishing the memoir in India?
HarperCollins India is publishing the book in India, while Alfred A. Knopf is the global publisher.
How long is the book?
The memoir runs to 544 pages, with an announced first printing of 100,000 copies.
What does the book cover?
It traces Gandhi’s life from her childhood in post-war Italy to meeting Rajiv Gandhi at Cambridge in 1965, her marriage into the Nehru-Gandhi family, the tragedies that struck the family, and her years leading the Congress.
Why did Penguin Random House India not publish it?
Penguin Random House India initially showed interest but later decided not to take up the Indian publishing rights. Gandhi has said the publisher was uneasy with the book’s criticism of the government.
The book is out today, and the debate around it is only just beginning.
