This novel is based partly on anunpublished autobiography of Lady Ranu Mukherjee, wife of the late industrialistSir Biren Mukherjee. It describes the relationshipbetween Tagore and young Ranu in pre-independent India, revealing much of how the two had initially met, how this relationship grew andflourished with time, and ultimately how it tapered off after Ranu's marriage toa family not inclined favourably towards her association with the poet.

Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly (Bengali: সুনীল গঙ্গোপাধ্যায় Shunil Gônggopaddhae), (7 September 1934 – 23 October 2012)[1] was an Indian poet and novelist.[3] Born in Faridpur, Bangladesh, Gangopadhyay obtained his Master's degree in Bengali from the University of Calcutta, In 1953 he with few of his friends started a Bengali poetry magazine Krittibas. Later he wrote for many different publications.

Ganguly created the Bengali fictional character Kakababu and wrote a series of novels on this character which became legendary in Indian children's literature. In 1982 he received Sahitya Akademi award in 1985 for his novel Those Days (Sei Samaya).[4] Gangopadhyay used the pen names Nil Lohit, Sanatan Pathak, and Nil Upadhyay.[1]

Author of well over 200 books,[1] Sunil was a prolific writer who has excelled in different genres but declares poetry to be his "first love".[5] His Nikhilesh and Neera series of poems (some of which have been translated as For You, Neera and Murmur in the Woods) have been extremely popular.