From Publishers Weekly
Dalrymple, author of the bestselling In Xanadu, now anchors himself in India around the turn of the 19th century to focus on James Kirkpatrick, an officer for the East India Company and the British Resident, representing the British government, in the Indian city-state of Hyderabad. Kirkpatrick, who converted to Islam and, after a celebrated and notorious romance, married Khair un-Nissa, the teenage great-niece of the region's prime minister, exemplifies the "White Mughals," British colonialists who "went native." One of the book's strengths is its stunningly detailed depiction of day-to-day life-gardens, food, sexual mores, modes of travel and architecture-and portraits of British governors-general, Indian politicians, their wives and families, and adventurers. It is also an astute study of the political complications Kirkpatrick faced because of his conversion and cross-cultural marriage, and the difficulties his divided loyalties caused him in his role as agent of the increasingly imperialistic British. But most suspenseful is the fate of Kirkpatrick's willful and charismatic wife, just 19 when he died in 1805, and the fate of their children. The twists and turns in the life of their daughter-sent to England when she was five, never to return to India or see her mother again-are fascinating. Dalrymple makes note of the present schism, which some believe unbridgeable, between Western and Eastern civilizations and Kirkpatrick's tale as a counterexample that the two can meet. Illus., maps.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Dalrymple has successfully interwoven history and romance into an absolutely fascinating overview of the often ambivalent and conflicted relationships between British colonists and native Indians. At the center of this compelling slice of social history is the true story of the passionate love affair between Jaynes Kirkpatrick, British ambassador to the Court of Hyderabad and an officer of the East India Company, and a young Muslim princess. Defying convention, Kirkpatrick not only took Khair-unNissa, the great-niece of the region's prime minister, as his mistress, but he eventually converted to Islam and married her, initiating a scandal that rocked two cultures. In addition to recounting this stirring love story, the author also successfully communicates the almost mystical hold that lushly exotic India exerted over quite a few British nationals who "turned Turk" during the colonial era. Dalrymple breaks down the facade of conventional historical stereotypes, painting a richly textured portrait of an imperial India in which racial and cultural relationships were surprisingly fluid and complex. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Karen Armstrong, author of Buddha and A History of God
"Brilliant, poignant, and compassionate."


Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire
"Destined to become an instant classic."


Ahmed Rashid, author of Taliban and Jihad
"The history of the British in India will never be the same after this book."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In 1798 James Achilles Kirkpatrick, British resident at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, fell in love with the great-niece of the Nizam's prime minister and a direct descendant of Muhammed. To marry her Kirkpatrick converted to Islam and even, according to Indian sources, became a double agent working for the Hyderabadis against the East India Company. This remarkable story, unearthed by William Dalrymple during five years of research, casts light on the many British colonizers in India who "went native," taking on the dress, customs, and religions of the sub-continent. These "white Mughals" were a source of difficulty and embarrassment to colonial administrations from the sixteenth century until the 1850s, when a new breed of Crown subjects took the reins. With a colorful supporting cast of other "white Mughals" from the era -- including "Hindoo Stuart," who traveled with his own team of Brahmins, and Alexander Gardner, whose tartan turban sported egret plumes -- this exotic love story conjures all the sweep and resonance of a great nineteenth-century novel.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Los Angeles Times

William Dalrymple's new book, White Mughals, is devoted to a particularly colorful example of just how intimate the encounter between British and Indian could get, and how barbed the consequences could be: the story of James Achilles Kirkpatrick and a young and beautiful woman of Persian descent, Khair un-Nissa, who, amidst intrigue and conspiracy, became his bride. — Sunil Khilnani

The New Yorker

At the end of the eighteenth century, James Achilles Kirkpatrick, the promising young British Resident at the Shia court of Hyderabad, fell in love with Khair un-Nissa, an adolescent noblewoman and a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. The story of their romance and semi-secret marriage endured in local legend and family lore but was otherwise forgotten. After five years' work with a trove of documents in several languages, Dalrymple has emerged not only with a gripping tale of politics and power but also with evidence of the surprising extent of cultural exchange in pre-Victorian India, before the arrogance of empire set in. His book, ambitious in scope and rich in detail, demonstrates that a century before Kipling's "never the twain" -- and two centuries before neocons and radical Islamists trumpeted the clash of civilizations -- the story of the Westerner in Muslim India was one not of conquest but of appreciation, adaptation, and seduction.

Publishers Weekly

Dalrymple, author of the bestselling In Xanadu, now anchors himself in India around the turn of the 19th century to focus on James Kirkpatrick, an officer for the East India Company and the British Resident, representing the British government, in the Indian city-state of Hyderabad. Kirkpatrick, who converted to Islam and, after a celebrated and notorious romance, married Khair un-Nissa, the teenage great-niece of the region's prime minister, exemplifies the "White Mughals," British colonialists who "went native." One of the book's strengths is its stunningly detailed depiction of day-to-day life-gardens, food, sexual mores, modes of travel and architecture-and portraits of British governors-general, Indian politicians, their wives and families, and adventurers. It is also an astute study of the political complications Kirkpatrick faced because of his conversion and cross-cultural marriage, and the difficulties his divided loyalties caused him in his role as agent of the increasingly imperialistic British. But most suspenseful is the fate of Kirkpatrick's willful and charismatic wife, just 19 when he died in 1805, and the fate of their children. The twists and turns in the life of their daughter-sent to England when she was five, never to return to India or see her mother again-are fascinating. Dalrymple makes note of the present schism, which some believe unbridgeable, between Western and Eastern civilizations and Kirkpatrick's tale as a counterexample that the two can meet. Illus., maps. (On sale Mar. 31) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

From 1798 to 1805, Maj. James Achilles Kirkpatrick served as the East India Company's ambassador to the Hyderabadi Court in central India. Here, amid much intrigue, obfuscation, and passion, Kirkpatrick stirred controversy by launching an affair with Khair un-Nissa, a 14-year-old Indian Muslim princess affianced to another man. To win her, Kirkpatrick took on the speech, clothing, and social practices of a Muslim, including conversion to the Islamic faith. They eventually married, but five years later Kirkpatrick died of a fever in Calcutta. A touching epilog traces the transformation of his two children's identify from Indian to English. Thus, a story that might have been presented as simply sordid or prurient becomes a tender tale of deeply felt love. On another level, Dalrymple (In Xanadu) uses Kirkpatrick's marriage as a symbol of many other relationships in India at a time when the mingling of people, cultures, and ideas was possible. Dalrymple's beautiful prose allows the text to be of interest to any reader, and his long, meaningful footnotes will give great satisfaction to the scholar. This work can be easily recommended for all libraries.-John F. Riddick, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews