The Exile: A Novel Based on the Life of Maharaja Duleep SinghThe Exile is a poignant novel about Maharaja Duleep Singh, the youngest son of the great Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab, who signed away the Koh-i-Noor to Queen Victoria when he was only eleven. In the book, the diamond, which has captured people's imagination for centuries, is at the centre of the adolescent Duleep Singh's realization of his situation, after which he reconverts to Sikhism and rebels against the Queen. Told in Duleep Singh's own voice, and the voices of five characters based on his contemporaries, The Exile is a compelling and deeply moving portrait of one of the most tragic figures of Indian history. It is, equally, an unsparing examination of British imperialism, and the greed and shortsightedness of the Indian princes that fed it.