With his mother Sonia Gandhi's memoir set to hit the stands later this year, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday (August 20, 2026) said he is proud that it would be read by the millions who love her and he knows how hard it was for someone as private as her to tell the world her beautiful story.

Sonia Gandhi will come out with her memoir this November in which she will be sharing her intimate story of marrying into one of India's most powerful political families, the tragedy of losing her husband Rajiv Gandhi that threw her into the "public world of politics" and turning down prime ministership in 2004, among other things.

"Belonging: A Journey of Love" will hit stands on November 10, publisher Alfred A Knopf, an American imprint of Penguin Random House, announced on Tuesday (August 18, 2026). Penguin Random House India, however, has not confirmed the date of release of the book in India.

In his message posted on X, Mr. Rahul Gandhi said, "Mama, I last saw you and Papa together more than 35 years ago. Since the day Papa left, I have watched you face everything life threw at you with never-ending courage and dignity."

"Only Priyanka and I really know what you have been through, and how difficult your life after Papa truly was," Mr. Rahul Gandhi said.

"I am happy, and so proud, that your story — ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’ — will finally be read by the millions of people who love you. I know how hard it was for someone as private as you to tell the world your beautiful story," he said.

Today, on his birthday, Mr. Rahul Gandhi said he can see "Papa smiling and looking down proudly at his beautiful Sonia".

Rajiv Gandhi was born on this day in 1944.

According to the Alfred A Knopf website, the memoir begins in Cambridge, England, where in 1965, 19-year-old student Sonia Maino "falls in love at first sight with the handsome young man she's destined to marry: Rajiv Gandhi".

Ms. Sonia Gandhi, 79, who has rarely shared her private life in public forums, narrates her life, "from her childhood in post-war Italy, to the romance that brings her to India, to the shattering losses that will reshape not only her own future but also that of her adopted home".

The book also mentions how Ms. Sonia Gandhi declined to become Prime Minister after the Congress-led alliance won the 2004 elections and instead chose Manmohan Singh to lead the government.

Among other things, she writes about her introduction to her "formidable mother-in-law" and India's first female Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

She recalls learning to speak Hindi, wearing saris and relishing Indian cuisine. In her early years as the wife of Rajiv Gandhi, then a commercial airline pilot, and the mother of two young children, Ms. Sonia Gandhi witnessed the death of brother-in-law Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash, followed by the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

The book aims to offer an insider's perspective on the country's economic and social changes over 60 years.

Ms. Sonia Gandhi has said that writing about her life meant opening herself up and sharing experiences that she had kept deep inside, as she reflected on the heartbreak and loss that drew her into politics.

It was heartbreak and loss that threw her into the public world of politics.

"Up till then, I had guarded my privacy fiercely," Ms. Sonia Gandhi said in a statement issued here on Tuesday (August 18, 2026) by publisher Alfred A Knopf.

"Writing about my life did not come easily to me. It meant opening myself up, sharing moments and experiences I had always held deep inside," she said.