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Review ------ Extraordinary. William Dalrymple and Anita Anand have found previously ignored and untranslated Persian and Afghan sources to give us fresh information - Ysenda Maxtone Graham, The Times Riveting. Dalrymple and Anand present as evocative a rendering as the most enthralling bazaar storyteller while providing an astute and empathetic study of the historical landscape through which the diamond has made its troubled way…This highly readable and entertaining book …finally sets the record straight on the history of the Koh-i-Noor - Tarquin Hall, Sunday Times Dalrymple and Anand’s tale is a writer’s gift - Robert Leigh-Pemberton, Daily Telegraph The history of the many who have coveted the diamond is long and involved, full of wonder and awe, treachery and bloodshed - Observer Dalrymple tracks its tortuous journey across the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan to its arrival in the Punjabi treasury; Anand tells the subsequent story of British ownership. Their two narratives are neatly spliced and stylistically harmonious ***** - Matthew Dennison, Mail on Sunday [Dalrymple and Anand] have a real story to tell…for anyone with a taste for that classic blend of blood and bling, for ‘oceans of pearls and gold’ and hecatombs of severed heads, for monstrous heaps of eyeballs – 20,000 of them - and precious stones ‘in quantities that beggar all description’ this is an oriental Games of Thrones - Dalrympleis own reference - in spades - David Crane, Spectator Dalrymple tells this complicated story with verve and admirable brevity, drawing on a wide range of literature and memoirs. He paints a picture in which elegance and refinement are married to treachery and hideous brutality…This is a book which anyone interested in 19th century India and Indio-British relations will want to read - Allan Massie, Scotsman Gruesome and ceaselessly dramatic - Daily Telegraph For all that the Koh-i-Noor may be a doubtful best friend, there is no doubting the fascination of its story, told so engagingly here - John Ure, Country Life Dalrymple and Anand bring every stage of the Koh-i-Noor’s turbulent past to life. It is an utterly fascinating story, revealing the nature of power through the history of one of its most potent symbols - Lucy Moore, Literary Review The fascinating story of this enormous jewel, currently kept in the Tower of London, is told in a compelling new book by Radio 4’s Anita Anand (Any Answers) and historian William Dalrymple…The book comes out on June 15 and I can’t wait to get my hands on it - Richard and Judy, Daily Express William Dalrymple is to non-fiction what JK Rowling is to fiction…This joint project with Anita Anand is bound to fly off the shelves as quickly as readers can devour it - Bookseller Anita Anand's gripping book is a sad story of dispossession and dislocation . The story is fast-paced and thrilling . A noble book **** - praise for Anand's Sophia: Princess, Suffragette and Revolutionary (Daily Telegraph) Magnificent ... shames the simplistic efforts of previous writers - praise for Dalrymple's The Last Mughal (Spectator) Vivid and compelling . Anand writes with the vigour and imaginative reach of a novelist - praise for Anand's Sophia: Princess, Suffragette and Revolutionary (New Statesman) Book Description ---------------- The first comprehensive and authoritative history of the Koh-i-Noor, arguably the most celebrated and mythologised jewel in the world, from the internationally accled and bestselling historians William Dalrymple and Anita Anand