Belonging: A Journey of Love - Release Date November 10, 2026

Book Specification

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication Date: 10 November 2026
• ISBN-13: 9789309961410
• Pages: 544 pages
• Item Weight: 490 g
• Dimensions: 23 × 15 × 2.8 cm
• Country of Origin: India
• Binding: Hardcover

Book Details

Belonging: A Journey of Love is a surprising and richly told memoir that seamlessly weaves the personal with the political, offering a riveting story of love, family and an endlessly fascinating India.

The book begins in Cambridge, England, in 1965, where nineteen-year-old Sonia Maino, a student from a small village in Italy, falls in love with Rajiv Gandhi, grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. From her childhood in post-war Veneto to her journey to India, Sonia Gandhi recounts the experiences that shaped her life and transformed her relationship with her adopted country.

With warmth and candour, Sonia describes her introduction to her formidable mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, and her gradual adjustment to life in India—learning Hindi, wearing saris and embracing the country's spicy cuisine. Alongside Rajiv, she builds a family and raises their two children while he begins his career as a commercial airline pilot.

Their lives are irrevocably changed by a series of devastating tragedies. The death of Rajiv's brother, Sanjay, is followed by the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. Despite Sonia's fears, Rajiv assumes the role of Prime Minister, taking the couple across India and around the world. Seven years later, Sonia faces another devastating loss when Rajiv is assassinated by a suicide bomber while campaigning.

Choosing to remain in India despite advice from her Italian family to return home, Sonia is eventually drawn into politics. She becomes the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress and, despite initially being regarded as a foreign-born outsider, earns the trust and affection of millions.

Following a key election, Sonia is selected by the Congress Party to become Prime Minister, but in a rare and consequential decision, she declines the country's highest office and instead leads her Party in an alliance that governs India for a decade.

Epic yet intimate, Belonging offers a unique personal perspective on India's tumultuous post-independence history, as well as its political, economic and social transformations over five decades.

Key Features

• A deeply personal memoir blending love, family, politics and Indian history.
• Tells Sonia Gandhi's journey from post-war Italy to her life in India.
• Recounts her relationship and marriage with Rajiv Gandhi.
• Offers a personal account of life alongside Indira Gandhi and the Nehru-Gandhi family.
• Covers major events in modern Indian history, including the assassination of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
• Explores Sonia Gandhi's transition from private family life to Indian politics.
• Chronicles her leadership of the Indian National Congress.
• Provides an insider's perspective on India's political, economic and social changes over fifty years.
• A compelling combination of memoir, political history, family history and biography.
• Includes a personal perspective on the experience of belonging to and adapting to a new country.

About The Author

Sonia Gandhi is the author of Belonging: A Journey of Love, a memoir that offers a personal account of her life, family, relationship with Rajiv Gandhi, experiences within the Nehru-Gandhi family and journey into Indian politics.

The provided material does not include a separate detailed author biography beyond the life and experiences discussed in the memoir.