Victoria and Abdul, by Schrabani Basu

During Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, she arranges for some men from India to be hired to work as servants in her household.  One of the men hired was Abdul Karim, a 25 year old office clerk from Agra. Something clicked between Karim and the queen, and soon she asked him to give her Urdu lessons.  Karim didn't know much English, but as they learned each other's languages, they became dear friends.  The other members of court were worried about the closeness of the queen and this dark Indian man of low birth and did everything they could to discredit him in the queen's eyes, but she stayed faithful to him, giving him a variety of titles, gifts and a substantial inheritance.  He, in turn, helped her understand India, the land that she ruled but that she would never be able to see. 

I picked up this title because it had been made into a movie.  I wasn't sure when I first checked it out if it were a historical fiction or nonfiction.  The book is definitely written as a nonfiction.  Basu's account is based entirely on historical documents including letters, journals and newspaper articles.  She is very careful not to add to much from her own imagination.  When Victoria died, Karim and his family were hastily thrown out of the estate, and the royal family seized and burned all of his correspondence with the queen.  As a result there is little historical evidence to tell us what Karim felt about his relationship with the queen.  Was he a opportunist, playing on the sympathies of an old and lonely woman as the court thought, or was he an enlightened and wise companion that helped Victoria understand the people over whom she ruled as the queen herself thought?  Basu's resists the temptation to portray Karim as merely a heroic victim of racism and leaves the judgement of his character largely up to the reader.

I must admit I almost gave up on this book half of the way through.  Over and over people accused the Munchi and Victoria defended him.  It was a bit repetitive. I finally got through it by turning the playback speed to 1.50.  Still, I am glad I stuck with it.  It is an intriguing story and a glimpse into real life history on a very human level. (334 p, 2017)