Set in 1887, the year of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, Tanika Gupta’s The Empress tells the story of the sixteen-year-old Rani Das, ayah (nursemaid) to an English family, who arrives at Tilbury docks after a long voyage from India, to start a new life in Britain. On the boat, Rani befriends a lascar (sailor), an …
![](http://theasianwriter.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/tanika-gupta_photo-credit-oscar-may_0087_press.tmb-img-912-450x300.jpg)