 A really nice and sympathetic review of The Lives of Freda has appeared in Business Line, sister paper of The Hindu - here's the link: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/read/the-lives-of-freda-the-story-of-an-extraordinary-woman/article28197238.ece And here's a taste of what the reviewer Melanie P. Kumar says:
'Biographies seldom occupy the high table in India. The lives of celebrities get written about, but the genre in itself is not accorded the importance it gets in many other parts of the world. It is on reading the story of Freda Bedi — who fought for India’s independence — that you realise the significance of her unconventional life and the need for documenting it. 'The eminently readable book by Andrew Whitehead brings alive the multifaceted personality of Freda and the many lives she could pack into a span of 66 years. Interestingly, the author bears some similarity with his subject. Both were born in Britain and married into India, which they made their home. Whitehead was the BBC’s India correspondent and his rich journalistic background shows in the crisp style and tenor of the writing.'
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Humra Quraishi, who has real expertise in the modern history of Kashmir, has written in the National Herald about the session on Freda Bedi at the recent Khushwant Singh Literary Festival in London. Her account dwells in particular on the political tensions in Kashmir - and between Srinagar and Delhi - in the early years of independence as described in The Lives of Freda.
Here's the link: https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/the-remarkable-story-of-freda-an-indian-nationalist-english-woman Humra Quraishi has also written about The Lives of Freda for the Kashmir Times: http://www.kashmirtimes.com/newsdet.aspx?q=91922 ...and for Tehelka: http://tehelka.com/an-english-girl-who-joined-indias-freedom-struggle/ ... and for Mainstream: http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article8921.html  I've just spotted this - a lovely review of The Lives of Freda in the Statesman, among the most venerated of India's daily papers.
The reviewer is Bisakha Ghose, a considerable figure in literary and journalistic circles in Calcutta - and a veteran of the BBC World Service at Bush House: a 'fascinating' story - she says - and 'skilfully narrated'.  Freda Bedi was the subject of a well-attended session of the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival in London at the weekend. The venue was Khushwant's alma mater - King's College, London. The panel consisted of - from left to right - the journalist Mick Brown moderating, who has written widely on Tibetan Buddhism; Norma Levine, a Buddhist and the author of a book about Freda's spiritual odyssey; and Andrew Whitehead, author of The Lives of Freda.  |
The Lives of Freda- a blog about my biography of Freda Bedi 
Andrew Whitehead
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