New Delhi, 28 August

Penguin Random House India is not the publisher of Sonia Gandhi's memoir “Belonging: A Journey of Love”, the publishing house said in a statement on Friday.

The statement comes weeks after American publisher Alfred A Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House, announced that the book would release on November 10.

"Penguin Random House India is not the publisher of Belonging in India. Any suggestion that Penguin Random House India decided not to publish Belonging because the author declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances," the company said.

The statement follows a report in the Indian Express claiming that the publisher backed out after Gandhi refused "editorial changes” to the manuscript.

Penguin Random House India said that even though they were "willing and keen to publish the book", it is their “prerogative and responsibility to fact check authors and provide recommendations” as a normal part of the publishing process.

"Throughout the relevant discussions, Penguin Random House India's position was that we remained willing and keen to publish the book. We will not comment further on confidential discussions with the author," the statement added.

Even as the status of the book's distributor in India remains uncertain, a page on e-commerce website Amazon showed an ebook version of “Belonging” up for pre-order at Rs 2,615.

According to the e-commerce website, the e-book is published by William Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins UK.

The book's India release has been a matter of much speculation since Alfred A Knopf’s announcement.

The Congress leader, one of India's most discussed political figures, will be sharing her intimate story of marrying into one of India's most powerful political families, the tragedy of losing Rajiv Gandhi that threw her into the "public world of politics" and turning down prime ministership in 2004 among other things, according to Alfred A Knopf.

Gandhi, 79, who has rarely shared her private life in public forums, narrates her life, "from her childhood in post-war Italy, to the romance that brings her to India, to the shattering losses that will reshape not only her own future but also that of her adopted home", it said.

Earlier in June, PRHI had dropped journalist and author Joe Sacco's graphic novel on Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 after taking into account "local legal, regulatory, commercial, and market considerations".

Reports had suggested that the publisher pulled the plug on the book's distribution over "an inaccurate map" and that "no changes are forthcoming" from the originating publisher.

The publisher also made headlines in February this year for saying that it had “not printed” former Army Chief General M M Naravane’s memoirs titled “Four Stars of Destiny”. This was days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi flashed a hard copy of the book in Parliament.

PRHI is the Indian subsidiary/operating company of Penguin Random House (PRH), the global publishing group.