Ruskin Bond is one of India's best-loved writers, who has written over 500 short stories, essays and novellas, and more than forty books for children. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992, the Padma Shri in 1999 and Padma Bhushan in 2014.H.H. is the spoilt, selfish, beautiful widow of the Maharaja of Mastipur. She lives with her dogs and her caretaker, Hans, in an enormous old house in Mussoorie, taking lovers and discarding them, drinking too much and fending off her reckless sons who are waiting hungrily for their inheritance. The seasons come and go, hotels burn down, cinemas shut shop and people leave the hill station never to return, but H.H. remains constant and indomitable. Observing her antics, often with disapproval, is her old friend Ruskin, who can never quite cut himself off from her. Melancholic, wry and full of charm, Maharani is a delightful novella about love, death and friendship.
This book is one of those cozy novellas that I personally read because I had time to kill but it has a charm that just pulls you in and makes you judge HH's character and actions along with Ruskin. Highly recommend people to read this book!
