Joan in India

In 1939, young Joan Falkiner’s spirited flight from South Yarra to princely India and her marriage to the Muslim ruler of a small state in Gujarat sent shockwaves through the Melbourne society. Political reverberations were felt throughout the Raj and as the kingdoms were about to disappear forever in the maelstrom of Indian Independence as high as the British throne. How did it all come about? Through conversations about Melbourne, Mumbai and the South of France, research in the India Official Library in London, and the author’s personal journey while travelling in modern India, Suzanne Falkiner traces the course of a most unusual love story.