Mistaken Identity by Nayantara Sahgal

Book Summary

On a journey home to North India, Bhushan Singhthe carefree son of the Raja of Vijaygarhis mistakenly arrested and jailed on charges of treason. As months turn into years without trial, Bhushanapolitical and idlebegins entertaining his cellmates with tales of his life: a childhood love affair that sparked communal riots, time spent dancing the Turkey Trot and falling for a Parsi modernist in America, and his exile abroad. Alongside, India grapples with social unrestthe Salt March, Punjab hunger strikes, and world shocks such as Mussolinis rise and Turkeys civil warall pressing up against the prison walls. The true “mistaken identity” is revealed in a final twist of fate and moral reckoning. The novel is part romance, part historical saga, one rich in irony and suffused with themes of destiny, love, and the complexities of colonial-era India

About the Author

Born in 1927 in Allahabad, Nayantara Sahgal is a prominent Indian writer in English and a political commentator hailing from the Nehru familyniece to Jawaharlal Nehru and cousin to Indira Gandhi . Educated at Wellesley and Woodstock School, she has authored nine novels and multiple non-fiction works exploring personal dilemmas set against Indias political turmoil . Sahgal has earned the Sahitya Akademi Award, Sinclair Prize, Commonwealth Writers Prize, and other honors for her nuanced portrayal of Indias elite amid changing times. Known for combining literary elegance with political critique, she notably returned her Sahitya Akademi Award in 2015 in protest against rising intolerance in India