Courage & Commitment—Margaret Alva’s unflinchingly honest autobiography—details her forty-year career under four Prime Ministers—Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh, and her eventual transition from politician to Governor.

As the inheritor of a legacy—the Alvas have been associated with Indian Parliament for over half a century—Margaret Alva details her trials and triumphs, and confronts the controversies that have rocked her career—her 1979 expulsion from the Congress party; her spats with Sanjay Gandhi; her role in framing Rajiv Gandhi’s last campaign tour; her involvement with the Jain Hawala investigation when in charge of the CBI; her denunciation of the manipulation of seats by her own party; and the events leading to her resignation in 2008 from the post of the AICC General Secretary in charge of eight states. At the same time, she offers rare insights into the lives of national and international political luminaries.

Spanning Mangalore, Bangalore, New Delhi and the world at large; shedding light on family, friends and foes; and detailing politics and policies, manipulations and machinations—Courage & Commitment is the story of a simple life made remarkable, and is narrated with the author’s trademark candidness.