Former Congress president and CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday unveiled the first look of her much-awaited memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, months after its publication ran into a controversy over proposed editorial changes, with the book set to hit the shelves on November 10.Sharing the first look on Instagram, Sonia said: “Hello everyone, I’m truly grateful to share this moment with you all; the first look of Belonging: A Journey of Love.”“It is a story of love, duty, loss and finding a place to belong. I look forward to sharing it with you,” she added.The memoir, published by HarperCollins India, promises a deeply personal account of Sonia’s journey from her childhood in Italy to her life in India, her marriage to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the tragedies that shaped the Gandhi family and her eventual entry into politics.The book begins in 1965, when Sonia Maino, then a 19-year-old student in Cambridge, England, met Rajiv Gandhi, grandson of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It recounts her move to India in 1968, her introduction to her mother-in-law, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and her efforts to adapt to a new country, language and way of life.It also revisits the defining tragedies of her life, the death of Rajiv’s younger brother Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash in 1980, Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination during an election campaign in Tamil Nadu in 1991.Sonia describes how these losses transformed her life and eventually drew her into public life, despite her longstanding desire to remain away from politics. The memoir also explores her decision to stay in India after Rajiv’s assassination, her rise to become the longest-serving president of the Congress and her decision to decline the Prime Minister’s post after the party’s victory in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.Beyond the personal narrative, the book promises an insider’s account of India’s political journey over six decades, including Sonia’s experiences at the helm of the Congress, the formation of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, her relationship with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and her interactions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The unveiling comes after a dispute over the memoir’s publication in India. Penguin Random House India, which was initially expected to publish the book in the country, stepped aside from the project following disagreements over proposed editorial changes to parts of the manuscript.Congress leaders alleged that the proposed changes included passages referring to Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), communal tensions, minorities and India-China relations. They raised concerns about the possibility of the Indian edition differing from the international version.Penguin Random House India, however, said editorial recommendations and fact-checking were part of its normal publishing process and maintained that it remained willing to publish the book. The disagreement ultimately led to a change of publisher, with HarperCollins India announcing in September that it would release the memoir in India.The book’s description presents it as an account of a woman’s journey through love, family, grief and political responsibility, while reflecting on identity and what it means to find a home in a country that was once foreign to her.For Sonia, the memoir also offers an opportunity to revisit experiences she has largely kept private, from her early years in Italy to the personal losses that reshaped her life and her eventual emergence as one of the most influential figures in Indian politics.