Swordswoman!

The Queen of Jhansi in the Indian Uprising of 1857

Illustrated by Amerigo Pinelli
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The true story of the fearsome Rani of Jhansi, the Indian Queen who took on the East India Trading Company in the Indian Uprising of 1857

Queen Lakshmibai of Jhansi was an unconventional queen. She could read and write; she rode a horse and wielded a sword; she trained other women to ride and fight alongside her. When the East India Trading Company, who ruled India in the 19th century, demanded that she hand over control of Jhansi, she refused.
And when an uprising began to stir in 1857, and the British laid siege to her fortress, the warrior queen tied her infant son to her back, mounted her favourite horse, and escaped to raise an army.
This is the story of a woman who defied all conventions to become an icon of resistance in colonial-era India.
Devika Rangachari has loved history ever since she discovered historical fiction as a child. Devouring tales of bygone ages from across the world, she ended up studying history for years and writing about the remarkable women she discovered in the process, whose stories were barely known. In her head, she is usually floating somewhere in the past.
Devika is an award-winning writer whose book, Queen of Ice (Duckbill), was on the White Raven list, won the Neev Young Adult Book Award and has been optioned to be made into a movie/TV series. She is currently the recipient of a prestigious national fellowship awarded by the Ministry of Culture in India to research aspects of gender and historical fiction in Indian children’s literature.

Amerigo Pinelli lives in the heart of the city of Naples, Italy, among narrow streets and old churches. A long time ago, when he was a child, he met a pencil, and from that moment on he started to play, joke, fight, and make peace with it. He studied in the Art School of Naples and the Comic School of his hometown. He thinks making a living from doing the thing he enjoys the most is a great gift and he considers himself very lucky.

About

The true story of the fearsome Rani of Jhansi, the Indian Queen who took on the East India Trading Company in the Indian Uprising of 1857

Queen Lakshmibai of Jhansi was an unconventional queen. She could read and write; she rode a horse and wielded a sword; she trained other women to ride and fight alongside her. When the East India Trading Company, who ruled India in the 19th century, demanded that she hand over control of Jhansi, she refused.
And when an uprising began to stir in 1857, and the British laid siege to her fortress, the warrior queen tied her infant son to her back, mounted her favourite horse, and escaped to raise an army.
This is the story of a woman who defied all conventions to become an icon of resistance in colonial-era India.

Author

Devika Rangachari has loved history ever since she discovered historical fiction as a child. Devouring tales of bygone ages from across the world, she ended up studying history for years and writing about the remarkable women she discovered in the process, whose stories were barely known. In her head, she is usually floating somewhere in the past.
Devika is an award-winning writer whose book, Queen of Ice (Duckbill), was on the White Raven list, won the Neev Young Adult Book Award and has been optioned to be made into a movie/TV series. She is currently the recipient of a prestigious national fellowship awarded by the Ministry of Culture in India to research aspects of gender and historical fiction in Indian children’s literature.

Amerigo Pinelli lives in the heart of the city of Naples, Italy, among narrow streets and old churches. A long time ago, when he was a child, he met a pencil, and from that moment on he started to play, joke, fight, and make peace with it. He studied in the Art School of Naples and the Comic School of his hometown. He thinks making a living from doing the thing he enjoys the most is a great gift and he considers himself very lucky.

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