Outlaw: India's Bandit Queen and Me

Description

Fascinating portrait of an Englishman's friendship with India's world-famous Bandit Queen In June 1992, author Roy Moxham did a very strange thing- he wrote to a bandit in an Indian jail. Phoolan Devi was the controversial and charismatic 'Bandit Queen' hailed as a modern-day Robin Hood in the villages surrounding Delhi. In revenge for her own gang rape, her followers killed 20 high-caste Indians, which led to her surrender and imprisonment. Struck by her story and appalled by her plight, Roy Moxham helped Phoolan Devi obtain justice, offered her encouragement when she became an MP in India on her release, and travelled with her for several years before she was finally gunned down in 2001. Based on the diaries that documented their extraordinary friendship, Moxham offers a fascinating portrait of a remarkable woman and reveals the hidden face of India.

Roy Moxham is the author of the acclaimed The Great Hedge of India and Tea- Addiction, Exploitation and Empire. He was born and brought up in Evesham, Worcestershire. After working for a while on a Herefordshire fruit farm, he went out to Africa in 1961 as a tea planter. He spent 13 years in Eastern Africa before returning to London. He became Senior Conservator of the University of London Library and also taught in the Institute of English Studies. Since 2005 he has devoted most of his time to writing and giving talks. He currently spends half of the year in London and the other half travelling, principally in India.

the extrordinary story of Phoolan Devi...a fascinating and well-written account of the murky underbelly of Indian life * Sunday Telegraph *