Historical fiction author to discuss ‘Bombay Prince’ Aug. 19
Award-winning author Sujata Massey will return to the History Book Festival for a discussion of “The Bombay Prince,” at 5 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 19, via Zoom.
It’s the third installment in her historical fiction series featuring Perveen Mistry, Bombay’s first female attorney. A question-and-answer session will follow the author’s presentation.
“The Bombay Prince” takes place in November 1921 as the Prince of Wales – the future King Edward VIII and ruler of India – arrives in Bombay for a four-month stay.
With the Indian subcontinent chafing under British rule, Perveen isn’t surprised when local unrest spirals into riots. But she’s horrified by the death of an 18-year-old Parsi student who falls to her death from a second-floor gallery just as the prince’s grand procession is passing by.
Having consulted with the young woman just days before, Perveen is suspicious that her death was not an accident, and steps forward to assist the grieving family in the fraught dealings of the coroner’s inquest, even though her own life is in danger amid unrest in the streets.
Massey is the author of 15 novels, four of which are historical fiction set in late British colonial India. The first book in the Perveen Mistry series, “The Widows of Malabar Hill,” was featured at the 2019 History Book Festival and named a Publishers Weekly Best Mystery/Thriller of the Year. The series also received Agatha and Mary Higgins Clark awards.
Born in England to parents from India and Germany, Massey was raised primarily in St. Paul, Minn., but has lived in Baltimore for almost 30 years. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Johns Hopkins University and wrote features for the Baltimore Evening Sun before becoming a novelist.
The program is free, but preregistration is required. To reserve a spot, go to historybookfestival.org.
Copies of “The Bombay Prince” are available at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, the official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Biblion in Lewes also has copies of the book for sale. Books purchased at either shop come with a signed archival bookplate.
Presenting sponsors of the 2021 festival are Delaware Humanities and the Lee Ann Wilkinson Group of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Gallo Realty.
In addition to the Lewes Public Library, the festival’s virtual programs are supported by the Delaware Division of Libraries and Sussex County Libraries.
Now in its fifth year, the History Book Festival is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history.
