HarperCollins India to Publish Sonia Gandhi's Memoir 'Belonging'

HarperCollins India announced on Friday (September 4, 2026) that it will publish Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s book, Belonging: A Journey of Love, on November 10, 2026. This comes days after Penguin Random House India decided not to publish the book over what it called a “particular issue”.

HarperCollins India announced that the “surprising, richly told memoir seamlessly weaves the personal with the political to tell a riveting story.” It said that the “once famously reticent Sonia Gandhi opens up with warmth and candour to tell the story of her remarkable life, from her childhood in post-war Veneto; to the romance that brought her to India; to the shattering losses that reshaped not only her own future but also that of her adopted home.”

On August 18, the New York City-based Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House, had announced that Ms. Gandhi’s memoir will be published on November 10. Knopf had also said that the first print run for the title would be 1,00,000 copies.

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Last week, Penguin Random House India reportedly backed out of publishing the memoir after disagreements over editorial changes. The publishing house put out a statement saying, “any suggestion that Penguin Random House India decided not to publish Belonging because the author declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances. As a publisher, it is both our prerogative and our responsibility to fact-check and provide authors with recommendations that are in the best interests of their books.” It said it remained keen to publish the memoir.

However, industry sources said that the publisher and author did have differences over content related to her impressions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from official meetings, his handling of India-China ties, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its activities.