Lahore, 29 March 1849. In a formal Act of Submission, the 10-year-old Maharajah of the Punjab hands over to the British East Company not only swathes of the richest land in India but the celebrated Koh-i Noor diamond. The history of the Koh-i-Noor then commissioned by the British was woven from gossip of Delhi bazaars, yet it became the accepted version. Only now is it finally challenged. The result is a revelatory exploration of south and central Asian history, taking in murder, torture, colonialism and appropriation. Masterly, powerful and erudite, this is history at its most compelling and invigorating.