So much has been written and said over the years about Sonia Gandhi, but never before in her own words until the release of her memoir, Belonging, a few days ago. Despite spending years in the public eye — first as Rajiv Gandhi’s mysterious Italian wife, then the nation’s “foreign First Lady”, a grieving widow, and in later years as Congress president and almost-prime minister — she has remained fiercely private. Over the years, she has earned monikers such as “Sphinx”, “Enigma”, and “Mona Lisa”, which refer to her Italian origin and striking looks, but also indicate the intrigue she holds for the common man.

So it’s no surprise that her memoir is already being hailed as the “book of the year”, with readers making a beeline for bookstores to pick up a copy, or even ordering it off grocery apps like Blinkit — a first for a non-fiction book by a politician in this country.