Sikkim : requiem for a Himalayan Kingdom.
- India: Random House, 2015.
- ix, 380 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
Includes index
Sikkim: Requiem for a Himalayan Kingdom tells the remarkable story of Thondup, the handsome last king of Sikkim, and his young and beautiful American queen, Hope Cooke, as they seek support for Sikkim’s independence after their wedding in 1963. Soon, rumours circulate that Hope was a CIA spy. Meanwhile, a shadowy Scottish adventuress, the Kazini of Chakung, married to Sikkim’s leading political figure, coordinates opposition to the Palace. As the geopolitical tectonic plates of the Himalayas grind together, Sikkim doesn’t stand a chance. Thondup dies a broken man in 1982; Hope returns to New York; Sikkim begins a new phase as India’s twenty-second state. Based on exclusive interviews and new archival research, this is a thrilling, romantic and informative glimpse of life in a lost paradise