Opening Doors: The Untold Story of Cornelia Sorabji, Reformer, Lawyer and Champion of Women’s Rights in India

Clever, attractive and ambitious, intellectually daring and physically courageous, Cornelia Sorabji was a truly remarkable woman. As India’s first female lawyer, she was original and often outspoken in her views—for example, in her criticism of Gandhi and her surprising friendship with Katherine Mayo. Cornelia Sorabji resists easy classification, either as a feminist or as an imperialist.

An Indian whose loyalty to the British Raj never wavered. A passionate advocate of women’s rights whose own career was nearly compromised through her inappropriate relationship with a married man. An independent and free-thinking intellectual who depended for work on patronage from an elite circle.  

Cornelia Sorabji’s long and fulfilling life was anything but simple. How did she reconcile these apparent contradictions? How did she succeed in opening doors to aspects of Indian and British life which remain closed to so many, even today—and where did she run into difficulties?

Through its beguiling portrait of a determined and pioneering woman at the heart of the Raj, this rich and important story will captivate everyone with an interest in or British history.

‘‘ ‘A compelling and fascinating biography’’
Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, the University of Chicago

‘‘An important and necessary book . . . Opening Doors gives us a vivid and larger picture of the influential worlds Cornelia inhabited’’
Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, Global Distinguished Professor, New York University

‘‘A starling example of biography through history and history through biography’’
Janet Morgan, author of Edwina Mountbatten: A life of Her Own

‘‘If Gandhi is the tragic hero of Indian Independence, Cornelia Sorabji is its tragic heroine. Her courage, resilience and stamina were worthy of her friend and exemplar, Florence Nightingale’’
Jon Stallworthy, Professor Emeritus of English, the University of Oxford