Cate Blanchett in Alex von Tunzelmann’s Indian Summer

Even more film adaptations of books news! Alex von Tunzelmann’s Indian Summer has the subtitle of The Secret History of the End of an Empire and was written in 2007. It is now set to be made into film and playing the role of Lady Edwina Mountbatten will be Cate Blanchett.

If you didn’t like the last Indiana Jones film, erase that from your mind and you are left with an actress who seems to make all the right choices. I just think Blanchett is fantastic, and you put her in a serious period piece and you probably couldn’t make a better choice.

This is the book synopsis:

The stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, liberated 400 million people from the British Empire. With the loss of India, its greatest colony, Britain ceased to be a superpower, and its king ceased to sign himself Rex Imperator.

This defining moment of world history had been brought about by a handful of people. Among them were Jawaharlal Nehru, the fiery Indian prime minister; Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the leader of the new Islamic Republic of Pakistan; Mohandas Gandhi, the mystical figure who enthralled a nation; and Louis and Edwina Mountbatten, the glamorous but unlikely couple who had been dispatched to get Britain out of India. Within hours of the midnight chimes, their dreams of freedom and democracy would turn to chaos, bloodshed, and war.

Behind the scenes, a secret personal drama was also unfolding, as Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru began a passionate love affair. Their romance developed alongside Cold War conspiracies, the beginning of a terrible conflict in Kashmir, and an epic sweep of events that saw one million people killed and ten million dispossessed.

Steeped in the private papers and reflections of the participants, Indian Summer reveals, in vivid, exhilarating detail, how the actions of a few extraordinary people changed the lives of millions and determined the fate of nations.

You can read an excerpt (the first chapter) from the novel over at Pan Macmillan’s site.

About Jay Tomio

...Jay Tomio is the co-owner of BSCreview and BSCkids. You should probably become his disciple through twitter @JayTomio. More fun awaits at Gestalt Mash, Vogue Immunity, and The Malazan Ascendancy.