25 JULY-14 AUGUST 1947: THESE WERE THE TWENTY-ONE DAYS THAT MADE INDIA.

When Josy Joseph settles down to look through a stack of dusty, neglected files in the National Archives while researching pre-Independence India, he is astounded by the material they contain. Bringing his investigative nous to historical research, he begins to stitch together a richly detailed account of how the nation came together and how very close it came to not being the world's largest democracy.

Beyond the familiar story in textbooks and popular history lie the anxious three weeks leading up to 15 August 1947, when India very nearly splintered into several independent princely states and a small republic. While Jawaharlal Nehru, M.A. Jinnah and other famous leaders sparred and debated in public, and Lord Mountbatten prepared to go from being Viceroy to the Governor-General of two democracies, a small group of civil servants were fighting against the possible Balkanisation of India. Pitted against the newly set up States Department, led by Sardar Patel, were the ruling families of the princely states and their wily advisors, some of whom had already declared independence. These states were actively building diplomatic relations with foreign nations, preparing to print their own currencies, and making strategic moves to defend themselves against military action by the Nehru government. And they were doing this with significant support from a section of the British elite, the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League.