'They will kill you too': Sonia Gandhi's turbulent journey in Indian politics

For Sonia, the years that followed were marked by retreat.

At 19, a young woman from a small Italian town, she had met Rajiv, an Indian student, in England. Their relationship took her into a new country and family, and a close bond with Indira followed. India became home through her husband and her mother-in-law.

After Rajiv's killing, even the public appearances required by the memorial trusts she headed became an ordeal. Before speeches, she feared tears would overwhelm her.

When the Dalai Lama asked whether she felt vengeful towards her husband's killers, she answered, "No, I don't," and burst into sobs. Slowly, she writes, Rajiv became "a presence within me rather than a piercing absence".