The late Sunanda Pushkar, MP and politician Shashi Tharoor's wife, would have turned 55 years old tomorrow. However, Pushkar died at a star hotel in New Delhi on January 17, 2014. It's been five years since then and many questions continue to be raised about her mysterious death.
Now, Pan Macmillan India publishes The Extraordinary Life and Death of Sunanda Pushkar, a book that looks at her death and the circumstances leading up to it. Penned by journalist, Sunanda Mehta (Pushkar's former schoolmate), the book traces her life from her early days in cantonment towns. It also covers Pushkar's first two marriages, a largely unknown stint in Canada, her rise as a Dubai businesswoman, and finally her much-publicized years with Tharoor until her controversial death shook the nation. Her death was as shocking as it was suspect, spawning many a controversy and complex legal battles.
However, Pushkar's life was no less dramatic, although it was lesser known. A culmination of material drawn from personal archives, numerous interviews and investigation across continents, this riveting biography attempts to answer the question: Who really was Sunanda Pushkar? Was she a social climber hankering after power and fame? Or was she bold and unconventional, achieving success on her own merit only to become a casualty of circumstance? Was she a villain or a victim? Or a bit of both? Through the soaring highs and wrecking lows that marked her forty-nine years, Sunanda Pushkar lived with passion, ambition and defiance.
This definitive biography is the account of her phenomenal life and its turbulent end. The author is a senior journalist with over twenty-five years of experience. The Extraordinary Life and Death of Sunanda Pushkar is her first book and releases in India on July 26.