Géraldine Lenain is an art historian with over twenty years of experience as a specialist in Asian arts. Her book The Last Maharaja of Indore, Yeshwant Rao Holkar II’s first major biography, reads like a journey into the heart of the roaring 1920s and a passage through India on the path to independence, revealing the profound complexities of a life marked by both brilliance and sorrow. Here is a candid interview that we recently carried out with her.
1. Best writing advice you have received?
Downsize as much as possible to be more impactful.
2. Where do you write? Do you have a favourite spot?
At home in my office, in a silent environment, next to a window with natural light.
3. Which word or phrase do you most overuse?
‘You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice’. (Bob Marley.)
4. Which author or book has influenced your work the most?
Dominique Bona, I admire her as a person and as a biographer. Her first book on Stefan Zweig is a masterpiece.
5. Apart from what you do today, what do you wish you could do or pursue as a career?
Create bridges at every level between people of different cultures, so that there is more understanding. (Museums, publications, auctions, personal life in different countries where I live.)
6. A fun fact about yourself that readers might not know…
I love to skydive.
7. What is your greatest fear?
To become blind.
8. What is your guilty pleasure?
To smoke cigarillos.
9. Who would be the guests at your perfect dinner party?
Romain Gary, Jacques Tati, Marcel Pagnol, Amrita Sher-Gil, Frida Kahlo, Nelson Mandela.
10. Why should everyone read The Last Maharaja of Indore?
It is an unprecedented biography in which you discover the moving and tragic life of a man who was not made to govern and whose only objective was to be free. It is a history book, but also a novel that takes you on a journey and immerses you in different worlds.
The Last Maharaja of Indore by Géraldine Lenain
