Penguin India will not publish Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, the Indian Express reported, citing sources. It added that Harper Collins may now be close to finalising the agreement to publish and distribute the book in India.
“Belonging: A Journey of Love” will hit stands on November 10, publisher Alfred A Knopf, an American imprint of Penguin Random House, announced on Tuesday.
Penguin Random House India, however, has not confirmed the book’s release date in India.
In a “cover reveal” earlier this week, Alfred A. Knopf announced November 10, 2026, as the release date of the “riveting memoir by one of the world’s most prominent women leaders”, Sonia Gandhi.
US-based Knopf emphasised that the book tells a “richly engaging story of love, family, and an endlessly fascinating country: India.”
What went wrong?
The Indian Express reported on Friday that Sonia Gandhi’s memoir may no longer be published by Penguin India. Sources told the media house that this was precipitated by certain “editorial changes and deletions” that Penguin Random House India wanted in “a part of the manuscript”, which was turned down by the author.
Penguin Random House breaks silence
Penguin Random House India issued a statement following the Indian Express export. In a statement, the spokesperson at Penguin Random House India said it’s not the publisher of ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’, Sonia Gandhi’s upcoming memoir, in India.
“Penguin Random House India is not the publisher of Belonging in India. Any suggestion that Penguin Random House India decided not to publish Belonging because the author declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances,” the company said.
The publisher, however, did acknowledge that they were “keen to publish the book”, adding that it is their responsibility to fact-check authors and provide recommendations, hinting at the discussion around the book with Sonia Gandhi.
“As a publisher, it is both our prerogative and our responsibility to fact check and provide authors with recommendations that are in the best interests of their books. This is a normal part of the publishing process,” the statement said.
The publisher, though, refused to divulge the details of the discussion with the author.
“Throughout the relevant discussions, Penguin Random House India’s position was that we remained willing and keen to publish the book. We will not comment further on confidential discussions with the author,” the statement added.
What’s next?
With Penguin India out, several Indian publishers are now in the fray, the Indian Express reported. It claimed that Harper Collins is close to finalising the agreement to publish and distribute Sonia Gandhi’s memoir in India.
Mint contacted Penguin Random House and Alfred A. Knopf for a comment. A response is awaited.
About Sonia Gandhi’s memoir
Penguin Random House described Sonia Gandhi’s book as “a surprising memoir that tells a riveting personal and political story of love, family, and an endlessly fascinating country: India.”
In the book, “the once famously reticent Sonia Gandhi opens up with warmth and candor to narrate her remarkable life, from her childhood in small-town Italy, to the romance that brings her to India, to the shattering losses that will reshape not only her own future but also that of her adopted home,” Alfred A. Knopf posted on Instagram while releasing the cover of Gandhi’s book.
‘Belonging’ begins in Cambridge, England, where in 1965 Sonia Maino, a nineteen-year-old student, falls in love at first sight with the handsome young man she’s destined to marry: Rajiv Gandhi, grandson of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
The book incorporates Sonia Gandhi’s introduction to her mother-in-law, India’s first woman prime minister, Indira Gandhi. “We see Sonia gain confidence by Rajiv’s side as she learns to speak Hindi, wear saris, and relish India’s cuisine.”
It mentions the account that changed everything for Rajib Gandhi — the moment when his brother, Sanjay, their mother’s principal aide, was killed in a plane crash, and again in 1984 when Indira Gandhi was brutally assassinated by her security guards in the garden of her home.
“In Sonia’s vivid, wrenching retelling, we feel the full force of the tragedy when seven years later Rajiv, too, while on his campaign trail, is assassinated by a suicide bomber,” Penguin Random House states.
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