The memoir, titled Belonging: A Journey of Love, offers a personal account of Sonia Gandhi’s life — from her childhood in Italy and marriage to Rajiv Gandhi to the assassinations of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, her reluctant entry into politics and her years at the helm of the Congress.

Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi is set to tell the story of her personal and political life in a new memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, offering readers a rare account of her journey from a small town in Italy to the centre of Indian public life.

The book traces more than six decades of a life closely intertwined with some of the most defining moments in India’s post-Independence political history. It begins not with politics, but with a young Sonia Maino arriving in England to study English and meeting Rajiv Gandhi in Cambridge in 1965.

She was 19 when the two met and fell in love. Rajiv Gandhi, the grandson of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, would later become India’s prime minister, but at the time, the relationship marked the beginning of a personal journey that would bring Sonia to a country and culture far removed from the surroundings in which she had grown up.

Sonia moved to India in 1968 after marrying Rajiv Gandhi. According to the book description, Belonging recounts her early years in the country, including her introduction to Indira Gandhi, her mother-in-law and India’s first woman prime minister, and her gradual adjustment to Indian life.

The memoir describes Sonia learning Hindi, wearing saris and developing a taste for Indian food as she settled into the Gandhi household. During those early years, Rajiv worked as a commercial airline pilot and the couple raised their two children, Rahul and Priyanka, in Delhi.

For much of this period, active politics did not appear to be the path the family would eventually take. That changed dramatically with a series of personal tragedies.

From family life to political upheaval

One of the first major turning points came in 1980, when Rajiv Gandhi’s younger brother Sanjay Gandhi, who had become a key political figure and an important aide to Indira Gandhi, died in a plane crash.

Sanjay’s death altered the political trajectory of the family and eventually brought Rajiv closer to active politics.

An even greater shock followed on October 31, 1984, when Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her bodyguards at her New Delhi residence. Rajiv Gandhi subsequently became prime minister.

The memoir offers Sonia Gandhi’s perspective on this period, including her concerns over Rajiv entering the highest levels of public life following his mother’s killing.

Seven years later, tragedy struck the family again. On May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suicide bomber during an election campaign in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.

The book presents these events not only as milestones in India’s political history but also through the experience of a wife and family member dealing with repeated personal loss.

According to the description of Belonging, Sonia Gandhi recounts the impact of these events on her life and the choices that followed, offering a personal view of episodes that have been extensively documented from their political and historical perspectives.

Reluctant entry into politics

After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, Sonia stayed away from active politics for several years despite calls from within the Congress for her to assume a larger political role.

Her eventual decision to enter politics marked another major phase of her life.

Sonia went on to become president of the Indian National Congress, leading the party through a period of significant political change and eventually becoming its longest-serving president.

Her political journey also placed her at the centre of one of the most closely watched developments in Indian politics after the 2004 Lok Sabha election.

Following the Congress-led alliance’s victory, Sonia Gandhi was widely expected to become prime minister. She instead declined the post, with Manmohan Singh subsequently taking over as prime minister.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance went on to govern India for two consecutive terms, from 2004 to 2014, while Sonia remained one of the alliance’s most influential political figures.

The memoir revisits that decision and other crucial moments from her years in politics while also examining questions of identity, public duty and her relationship with India.

Personal account of a changing India

While Sonia Gandhi’s political career forms an important part of the book, Belonging is positioned as much more than a conventional political memoir.

The book uses her personal experiences to look at India’s social, economic and political transformation over six decades.

From the years dominated by Indira Gandhi and the political upheavals of the 1980s and 1990s to the emergence of coalition politics and the Congress-led governments of the 2000s, the memoir places Sonia’s own story against a broader national backdrop.

At its centre, however, is the question suggested by the book’s title — what it means to belong.

Born and raised in Italy, Sonia Gandhi entered one of India’s most prominent political families and eventually became one of the country’s longest-serving political party presidents. The memoir explores her evolving sense of home and identity as she adapted to India and later assumed responsibilities in public life.

The publisher describes the book as both “epic” and “intimate”, combining an account of political events with memories of family relationships, love and loss.

The book is also expected to offer a more personal portrait of Sonia Gandhi, who for much of her public life has remained relatively reserved about her private experiences.

From Sangano to New Delhi

Sonia Gandhi grew up in Sangano and Orbassano in Italy’s Piedmont region, near Turin. After studying foreign languages in Turin, she travelled to England to study English in Cambridge, where she met Rajiv Gandhi.

Their marriage in 1968 brought her permanently to India.

Before Belonging, Sonia Gandhi had worked on books connected with the Nehru-Gandhi family’s personal and political history.

Following Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, she published a pictorial biography of him as well as a collection of his photographs. She also edited two volumes of correspondence between Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru — Freedom’s Daughter and Two Alone, Two Together.

Sonia Gandhi currently represents Rajasthan in the Rajya Sabha. Her children, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, are members of the Lok Sabha, with Rahul serving as Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House.

With Belonging: A Journey of Love, Sonia Gandhi turns to her own story, bringing together memories of her childhood in post-war Italy, her relationship with Rajiv Gandhi, her years within the family of Indira Gandhi, devastating personal losses and her eventual emergence as a central figure in Indian politics.

The memoir promises to offer readers a first-person account of a life that began far from Indian politics but became inseparable from some of its most consequential chapters.