Researching Victoria and Abdul Was a Big Challenge feat. Shrabani Basu

The Wire Talks

On this episode, host Sidharth Bhatia is joined by Shrabani Basu, a journalist and author based in London, who's works have been on bestsellers lists.

Her books include the critically acclaimed 'For King and Another Country', 'Spy Princess, the Life of Noor Inayat Khan', and 'Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant' which became a major movie starring Dame Judi Dench and Ali Fazal. Her latest book is 'The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer: Arthur Conan Doyle, George Edalji and the Case of the Foreigner in the English Village', an unlikely story of a young Parsi in a small village in Victorian England, who is convicted for a strange crime and then appeals to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to help him.

Sidharth talks to Shrabani about the process of writing each of her books, the kind of painstaking research it takes, the fascinating way she did her research for the Victoria & Abdul, the letters of Abdul Kareem, the relationship between Abdul Kareem and Queen Victoria, how the letters Queen Victoria wrote to him had been destroyed after her death and what her opinion was about thr movie. Sidharth and Shrabani also talk abour Noor Inayat Khan, how she is now on a stamp and her recent rise in popularity. Plus, they get into her latest book 'The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer' and what attracted her to this story, how she came about it in the first place, and lots more. Tune in for a fascinating episode.

Follow Shrabani on Twitter: shrabanibasu_

Follow Sidharth Bhatia on Twitter and Instagram @bombaywallah
bombaywallah and https://instagram.com/bombaywallah

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