#empire made

[hmhbooks]

Happy book birthday to Kief Hillsbery and EMPIRE MADE! ✨🎉🎊 In this travelogue-meets-family memoir, Hillsbery tells the story of his uncle many times removed who went to India to serve the British Empire, only to disappear and form a relationship with a local Muslim man.

[hmhbooks]

25. EMPIRE MADE: My Search for an Outlaw Uncle Who Vanished in British India

In 1841 at the age of twenty, Nigel Halleck set out for Calcutta as a clerk in the service of the East India Company, but disappeared after eight years serving in the name of empire, stoking a family mystery that would reverberate through generations.

Kief Hillsbery, Nigel’s nephew many times removed, spent decades researching and traveling in his long-lost relation’s footsteps. He initially set out to solve the question of his family’s black sheep, only to find a fascinating slice of hidden gay history. He discovered evidence of Nigel living happily with a Muslim companion, an exiled Afghan prince, as a permanent houseguest of a highborn Hindu in Kathmandu until his death. 

Coming on June 25th, EMPIRE MADE is the fascinating re-creation Nigel’s life and times as well as one man’s search for and connection to a very personal past. 

Happy Pride Month! We’re celebrating with 30 days of LGBTQ books. Click here to see our recommendations.